


The Circus

by DoctorMerlinReid



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Hatred for Metahumans, Human Experimentation, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 23:28:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 99,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14987888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorMerlinReid/pseuds/DoctorMerlinReid
Summary: In a world where metahumans are packed away into camps where they are used for experiments and menial labor, Wally West frees himself and a few others from the camp they were in and creates a metahuman resistance group called the Circus. Faced with an impossible battle against the Light, the Circus seeks an allianced with the superhero group called the Team.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I got the idea for this fic from reading Oblivion by Anthony Horowitz (one of my favorite authors ever!) and The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken. I just read those and had this idea and was like, I have to write this. So, for warnings, the flashbacks are going to be pretty dark. And yeah, I know that the flashbacks I put in my fics normally aren't all rainbows and butterflies, but these are going to be worse than usual. So… just so you guys know. Other than that, usual level of violence, romance won't make that big of an appearance, but it will make at least some appearance. Oh, also, I'm going to be messing with ages a little bit, meaning that some people should be different ages at the time that this fic is occurring, but they're not going to be.

WWWWWW

Wally was pretty sure that something bad was going on.

He wasn't entirely certain what it was, or how bad it was, but he just knew that there was something. All of the adults desperately tried to keep the situation under wraps, away from the innocent, prying eyes of curious children.

Wally was smart, though. He knew how to look at a situation and read into the tiny details. He saw the way that Mom started turning off the news channel whenever he came into the room, or the way Dad increased the parental controls on the family computer that Wally was barely on anyways. He knew that Mom and Dad stopped getting newspapers delivered every day, instead getting them at work. He noticed that families would just up and leave the neighborhood without really saying anything to anyone. No one at school talked to him, so he had plenty of time to observe around him and come to conclusions: something was happening out in the Real World that made it so certain people had to go somewhere and Mom and Dad didn't want Wally knowing what that was. They probably thought that it was going to scare him.

Or maybe they thought that it wasn't going to scare him and that's what they were worried about. They were always worried that he wasn't "normal" enough, that he was too much like a freak. Wally didn't think he was normal, but if being normal meant being like the other kids in his grade, then he wasn't too sure that he wanted to be normal anyways. Mom and Dad didn't appreciate it when he told them that, though, so he never mentioned it again.

Then the bad thing going on came to him.

There was a boy in his class named Josh Jackham. His mother was a police officer, and no one knew who the father was. Wally's parents had told him to stay away from Josh because of that, but Wally talked to him sometimes anyways. Everyone had been outside at recess and some of the older kids were bullying Josh, calling him mean names that they weren't supposed to be saying and pushing him around.

Josh was getting more and more frustrated as the bullying continued, angry tears pooling in the corners of his eyes and causing him to be laughed at more. He was heaving, begging, "Leave me alone! Leave me  _alone!_ " On the last word, a bright flash of lightning split the sky, an awe-inspiringly hot beam of light crashing to the ground in front of Josh, sending the bullies flying. Josh wasn't hurt, just scared, tears finally falling and body trembling like a leaf caught in the front windshield of a car. The bigger kids who had been picking on Josh were unconscious on the ground, one of them letting out one pathetic moan before falling completely silent.

The frantic teachers rushed around. Most of the them tasked themselves with herding the children away from the scene, but they missed little red-headed Wally West who was always so silent and alone. Using that to his advantage, Wally slipped closer to the scene, watching with rapt interest. Some of the other teachers were checking over the older boys for injuries, seeing if they could rouse them.

One particularly brave teacher had attempted to get closer to Josh, but the third grader was terrified and confused and not at all in the right frame of mind to be helped. Each time the teacher came close, a rush of wind tore at her, screaming in her ear and throwing her back. With each passing moment, the air grew heavier and the sky darker. A truly impressive storm was building up only above the school, a dark mark blotting the otherwise completely clear sunny day.

Out of the corner of his eye, Wally saw one of the teachers on her phone, yelling into it to be heard over the sound of the desperate wind and the confused conversation of an entire school of kids. He tried to creep closer to the teacher, but he only caught brief mentions of, "… one of them… metahuman… just a kid… how do we deal with… be here?... thank you so…" before one of the other teachers finally caught sight of him and ushered him back towards the school, eyes wide and panicked, fingers shaking slightly in their grip on his thin shoulders.

The teacher had finally gotten him inside, breathing a sigh of relief as the two got out of the now pouring rain and vicious winds. Wally caught a brief glimpse of men in full combat gear closing in on Josh before the doors shut.

Slightly worried for Josh, Wally thought on the word he'd heard: metahuman. What was a metahuman? Was it the reason that the weather was being so weird? Did it mean that Josh was the one causing the weird weather?

In science, meta often meant something had been changed, or altered. So… altered human? Josh was an altered human? Altered so he could make the weather go all crazy? If that was what was really going on, then that was  _awesome_! It was totally insane! The idea didn't really make sense. How could an alteration in Josh's chemical makeup allow him to affect an entirely separate entity like the weather?

Properly curious now (and a little bit afraid of what this could mean because imagine bad people having powers like that), Wally hesitantly walked up to the side of one of his favorite teachers, the one that taught the more scientific classes. It was just elementary school, so there was never anything  _really_  interesting going on, but the class was fun anyways.

After a few seconds, the teacher noticed Wally and crouched down next to him, "You okay, buddy? I heard you tried to stay out there in that rain. You can't do that, kiddo. You'll get sick out in the rain."

Wally blinked up at him and nodded seriously. The teacher smiled and patted Wally's shoulder, but before the man could turn around, Wally blurted out, "Can I go stay in your room?" The teacher's eyebrows pulled together and he looked like he was going to say no, but Wally pushed the issue before he could, "I just… I'm scared… and you know that staying your room helps me." It was true. Staying in the room, surrounded by locked cabinets with chemicals and tons of super interesting books on science that were way higher level than the ones in the library and a teacher willing to have intelligent conversation, made Wally feel accepted in a way that he never did anywhere else.

The teacher sighed gently, but nodded, truthfully understanding what Wally was saying. He gave Wally a stern warning to stay where he was before going over to the other teachers and telling them that he was going to bring the quiet redhead back to his room to help him calm down. The other teachers nodded, giving the green-eyed, friendless boy sympathetic glances and that was that.

After being led back to the science room, Wally immediately found a book he hadn't looked at yet, one about biology, and started reading. Maybe this would give him the answers he was looking for. He doubted that, but there was always the chance that the first book he grabbed would be the one that answered his questions. If it wasn't, then at the very least he'd get some useful information that might help him in his search.

Two chapters later, Wally had to admit defeat for the time being. The rain pounding down at the windows and the lightning cracking around them made it impossible to concentrate. School had been officially cancelled, but the weather was so dangerous that all the kids were currently stuck at the school as parents waited for the weather to die down enough to get the kids out.

Another flash of light illuminated the room, reflecting off the teacher's shiny mug and Wally was struck with an idea. From his spot between the bookshelf and the window, Wally called out, "What's a metahuman?"

The teacher froze, eyes widening dramatically before he swallowed and tried to cover up  _that_  reaction by smiling broadly, "Where'd you hear that word, Wally?"

"Outside." The boy answered simply, "The other teacher was calling someone and said something about a metahuman. I think it means an altered human and I think Josh is one of them and that's why everyone's freaking out. I think since he's a metahuman, he's able to control the weather. I also think this is what everyone is trying to keep from the kids lately."

A small, sad smile twisted the teacher's lips and he sighed tiredly before saying, "I was told to not tell you guys this because people don't want the kids to know, but you've figured most of it out by yourself, so there's no point in not telling you. Can you promise to not tell anyone else?"

Wally nodded and said matter-of-factly, "I don't have anyone to tell anyways."

The teacher winced, but continued with an even voice, "A metahuman describes someone with abilities beyond normal human limits. Scientists think that there is a certain gene that is altered to give someone these abilities, but that's just a working theory right now. Good?" Wally nodded studiously, and the teacher continued, "Metahumans have been around for a long time, but, recently, there was a boom of them. Their numbers have drastically increased, and people feel threatened by that. These metahumans aren't natural. They're something different, something dangerous. I mean, look at Josh. He hurt those boys with his powers. So, the government has created camps for these metahumans. They're rounding them all up and sending them to the camps where scientists are working on a cure and are helping the metahumans to control their powers and stop being so dangerous. Still good?" Wally nodded again, and the teacher finished with, "We're keeping this from the kids because you don't need to be worried about your friends turning into metahumans and being dangerous. That would just be bad for you guys."

Wally nodded for a third time and accepted the answer. Mom and Dad always said that adults did the things they did to help kids and Mom and Dad never lied. Unless it was to help Wally, of course.

The rest of the answer was kind of sad, though. He didn't want Josh to go away. Josh was one of the only people who talked to him. Josh was never a friend, but he wasn't overly hostile like a lot of the others. He hadn't thought that Josh was dangerous, though. Even when he'd hurt those boys, they'd been hurting him first and Josh had seemed just as scared as the teachers had. But an adult told him that Josh was dangerous, so he must have been. Maybe you started out not dangerous but became dangerous because of the powers? Maybe, maybe not. Wally would figure it out eventually.

But he was curious. Was it the anger that had started the powers? Or was it something else? How did one  _start_  being a metahuman? Wally opened his mouth to ask the teacher that, turning towards the front of the room, when there was a sound like shattering glass behind him. Wally saw a bright flash of light from behind him and he saw the expression of horror in the teacher's suddenly pale face and he saw his own body instinctually trying to move as if he were watching the situation from the side.

Inside, there was a calm acceptance of the fact that he was about to be hit by lightning (the lightning that Josh had created with his anger, a part of his mind whispered). Outside, there was only blood draining from his face and an incapability to move in the face of his shock.

And then, there was an impact like what Wally imagined getting hit by a truck would be like and Wally gasped. The sound became strangled in his throat, caught between the crippling fear and the scream of pain that wanted to rip its way out first.

He tumbled forward, still propelled by the bolt of lightning that broke all rules when it hit him instead of the lightning pole or the taller trees nearby. Wally smashed into a cabinet of chemicals, the lightning smashing around him and shattering the thin cabinet doors, sending shrapnel flying everywhere and drawing big lines of fire on Wally's skin. He vaguely registered liquid spraying up around him, coating him and causing the stinging aftereffects of that painful lightning to intensify, shaking his thin limbs and forcing his muscles to spasm sporadically, eyes fluttering shut as the pain overwhelmed him.

Opening them again took longer than he'd wanted. After his eyes had closed, the world had kind of seemed to shift around him. He didn't feel like he was in the real world anymore. There was a swirling vortex of light and feeling and emotions that he would never have the proper words to describe. It felt like coming home. And, honestly, that was why it took so long to open his eyes. He didn't want the beautiful feeling to go away when he woke up and he knew it would.

The sound of his Mom and Dad talking with the doctor was what finally brought him to open his eyes. Mom was wringing her hands in distress, "Are you  _absolutely certain_ , Doctor?"

He nodded seriously, "There's no other explanation for how quickly he healed and recovered from the cuts and metal burns, ma'am. I am very sorry to have to be the one to give you this news."

Dad's voice was gravelly with controlled emotion when he said, "Is there any way to fix… to fix… it…" Wally's Dad looked the same as normal, hands crossed over his chest and big, broad shoulders squared, stood at least a foot away from Mom like usual. But Wally had never heard Dad struggle to say something. Dad was sometimes scary when he was mad, and he was never really around, but he was strong and brave and took care of them. Whatever was scaring him enough to not be able to talk about it had to be really bad.

The doctor gave the two a sad glance before shaking his head. Dad sighed and nodded, "I'll call the Collection Agency."

The doctor shifted slightly and offered, "If you'd like, I can call the Collection Agency? You two can stay with your son until they come." Mom nodded and started crying.

As soon as the doctor was out of the room, Wally tried to speak, coughing when he realized that his throat was bone dry, before blinking up at his parents and trying again, "Mom? Dad? What's going on?"

They weren't coming any closer to his hospital bed. Mom was still crying, the sounds only getting louder when he started speaking. Dad's jaw ground together, eyes cold and shut off. Wally shrunk back in the bed, confused, "Mom? Are you okay?"

His Mom shook and blinked tears away at him, disgust lining her expression. She didn't even speak to him, turning to Dad and saying, "I can't do this. I'll be in the car."

Dad didn't say anything, only nodding at his wife and staring Wally down from several feet away. Knowing that Dad didn't like it when he repeated questions, but so confused that he didn't know what else to do, Wally asked again, "What's going on, Dad?"

Dad let out a frustrated, scared breath, rubbing an aggravated hand through his hair. He took up pacing, muttering to himself, "We can never have kids again. What did we do wrong that our kid ended up being a freak? What evil deed did I do to be punished with this? Wallace wasn't supposed to be a metahuman."

Wally interrupted him with a gasp, sitting up so fast it made his head spin, bright spots of light sparking in the corners of his vision. He blurted, "I'm a metahuman? How? Was it because I was hit with Josh's lightning?"

But his Dad wasn't listening. Dad stared at him with abject horror, quickly stepping away from the bed that held his son. Voice stern (but shaking like the fingers of that terrified teacher had shook), Dad said, "Wallace. Do not move. Stay exactly where you are. Do you understand?" Wally nodded, scared at the serious note in Dad's voice (scared of the terror Dad had in his eyes when he looked at  _Wally_ ). Dad continued, "You are a metahuman. I don't know how it happened. The Doctor is calling some people who are going to take you somewhere safe. They're going to keep you away from normal people, so you can't hurt them."

Wally was shaking his head before Dad had finished speaking, "No… no! That's not true! I would never hurt anyone! You don't need to send me away! I'll be good, and I'll fix myself! I swear!"

Dad's voice thundered in the small room, "Shut up! Shut  _up_ , Wallace! You are going with these people. No arguments! That's final!"

With a sudden clarity, Wally realized that the people were standing just outside the door, faces carefully blank. Three of them stood there, all men, all incredibly muscled. There was a patch on the arm of each of their uniforms that read 'Collection Agency'. Wally blanched at the sight of them.

A tall one with darkly tanned skin and thick black hair, a small mustache settled on his upper lip, spoke seriously, switching his gaze between Wally and his father, "Sir, we need you to leave the room. We will take care of this." He had a slight accent, but Wally couldn't identify it. He wasn't sure why that bothered him so much.

Dad sent one more look Wally's way, expression softer than Wally had ever seen it before. And then he was gone, swept around the corner to never be seen again. One of the men, built taller and broader than the rest with a huge face set in a furious scowl, stalked towards Wally. His black hair was swept to the side and messy. He was terrifying.

Wally tried to scoot back in his bed, but everything was acting weird. The men were moving so slow and something howled around in his head, limbs itching with a want, with a need he'd never felt before. There were more sparks behind him, machines shorting out and flashing in warning. The heart monitor started letting out a steady beep, a flat line showing on the screen.

Still struggling, but all tangled in his blankets, Wally was helpless when the third man came up behind him and gripped him by the hair, holding him still as the huge man started ripping out wires and IVs. Wally whimpered in pain, but the thin, pale man shook Wally's captive hair in a warning to be silent.

The dark-skinned man and the pale one each grabbed one of Wally's arms, dragging him down the hallway and out of the hospital. Nurses and doctors were staring at Wally with a sort of disgust. Wally realized with a sense of dawning horror that they didn't see a kid being dragged off without his consent. They saw a monster being taken away for their own safety.

The knowledge, mixed with the fact that everything was speeding up and slowing down around him without any sort of pattern, made Wally give in. He couldn't get past these big, strong men and there was no way that anyone would help him even if he shook them. He couldn't escape by himself because of the wacky speeding up and slowing down that only seemed to be affecting him. So, he shuffled along limply between the two men, bare feet cold against the ground and hospital gown thankfully clasped shut around him.

Wally was dragged into some sort of bus. It was a little smaller than a usual school bus and it was completely white. There were no windows on the sides, making it seem kind of like a big van. When he was shoved inside, he saw that there were a bunch of benches without backs. They forced him back a few rows and pushed him down next to someone who didn't look much older than Wally from the glimpse he'd gotten.

Then the men were yanking his hands behind his back with bruising force, dragging them together and cuffing them, adding a layer of zip ties and chaining the whole thing to the ground before moving on and doing the same thing with his feet.

Finally,  _finally_ , they left him and went to different positions on the bus. The dark-skinned one moved to the back of the bus, grabbing a gun and holding it with lethal intent in his eyes and the point leveled at the group. The pale one sat towards the middle, gun held with the same deadly intent and lack of remorse. The huge one took up a similar position in the front, facing back towards the gathered group. Within a moment, the bus shuddered to life and revved its engine.

In the brief moment that the engine was still loudly starting, the boy next to Wally leaned over and said, "Hey, I'm Cameron. What's your name?"

"Wally." He answered back, shaking slightly in his seat. He snuck a glance at Cameron and just prevented himself from doing a double take. The kid's skin was pale, almost tinged blue like he was suffering from hypothermia. He had a shock of white hair on his head, fluffy and tangled. His eyes were a startling blue, but one of them was swelling shut from a huge shiner.

Cameron whispered carefully, "You a criminal's kid too?"

Wally slid his eyes over to Cameron, startled, "Your parents are criminals?"

Cameron grinned slightly, "I'm taking that as a no. And yeah, dad's a villain. A lot of us on the bus are in that kind of situation. The kids are those whose parents are criminals and when CPS was trying to find a place for us, they realized we were freaks and sent us off to the Collection Agency. The adults are actual criminals who were arrested. So, that's not you?"

Wally shook his head slightly and whispered back, "No. My parents realized that I was a metahuman and had the doctor call the Collection Agency."

Cameron opened his mouth to say something in return, but he was stopped when one of the men came over and smashed the butt of his rifled into the back of Wally's head. Wally was sent jerking forward, the pain from the cuffs scraping against his skin a mere ghost compared to the fire that bloomed on the back of his head. Wally's eyes closed, and he breathed harshly as blood trickled through his hair, soaking into the bright material of the hospital gown. The pale man barked, "No talking!"

Luckily, Cameron didn't say anything, but his skin went frosty blue before shading over completely, body shifting into ice, frozen tendrils of frost icing over the seat they were on. Wally gasped at the first freezing touch, eyes wide.

By then, they'd attracted the attention of the other two men. One of the metahumans in the back (was that really a man, though?) started snarling and pulling at his chains, howling, "Leave them alone! They're just kids!"

Panic settled under Wally's skin as that man was clubbed with a rifle too and the other two men tried to get Cameron to stop icing the bus over. Eventually, the huge man shook his head and stepped back a little, aiming the gun at Cameron's chest.

Eyes wide and breath fluttering at unnatural speeds in his throat, time slowed even more. He saw the bullet exit its chamber, flying abysmally slow through the air. Wally knew with a sick type of certainty that if his hands were free, he'd be able to pluck the bullet right out of the air. Instead, he was forced to watch it crawl through the air towards his unsuspecting seatmate (one of the few people who had tried to be nice and talk to him and try to get to know him).

No. Wally shook his head, breathing settling as he came to a conclusion. He didn't have to just watch. He could do something about this. Ignoring the scraping pain of the zip ties and cuffs tearing away at his skin and cutting at the soft parts of his wrist, Wally pulled, leaning over towards Cameron. He felt something pop in his right shoulder and bit back a cry of pain. Finally,  _finally_ , he reached far enough to shove Cameron away. It wasn't going to feel nice on Cameron's hands, but it wouldn't be a bullet to the chest. It would, however, be a bullet in Wally's shoulder.

He did scream, then, as the bullet tore into his muscles and lodged there, causing him to slump over. The only thing that held him upright was the chains still dragging at his raw wrists and his dislocated shoulder.

Cameron screamed too, as time sped back up to normal and blood splattered his shoulder and chains pulled against his wrists. The ice melted away from his skin and left him looking like normal again, if horrified. The adults were pounding at the seats, desperately trying to get out of their restraints. They might be criminals, but they cared about a kid getting hurt, apparently.

The pale man yelled for the driver to stop the bus and the driver did, pulling over to, presumably, a shoulder of the road. Gasping for breath, Wally shook in his bonds, pain pounding through his small body. It wasn't as painful as that lightning had been, but it didn't feel spectacular either.

The dark-skinned man called for order, telling them to calm down. It wasn't working as everyone continued tearing at their bonds. Eventually, the huge one  _screamed_  for silence. The bus load went deadly silent, everyone breathing harshly and staring at the man who sneered at them, anger dripping off his body and curling around him.

Once he was assured of their silence, he snarled, "Obviously we didn't explain ourselves well enough. We are the Collection Agency. You are one of the first groups of  _metahumans_  collected for the camps. You will  _not_  use your powers. You will  _not_  speak. And, as a word of advice, do not try to stand up for someone else. You will only be hurt worse and they will be hurt too."

To prove his point, he stomped over to Cameron and Wally. He threw the end of his rifle into Cameron's ribs, causing the nice kid to cough up blood. The big man then smashed the butt of the rifle into Cameron's mouth, knocking him out. Cameron tipped over, arms akimbo behind him, still gently weeping blood from the small cuts the cuffs gave him.

Then the huge man came over to Wally. He gripped Wally's hair, ignoring the whimper and probing curiously at the back of Wally's head, "No wonder they flagged you. That's some impressive healing ability you've got there. The only sign that you were hit back here is the dried blood. You're going to be real useful." Wally squirmed in his bonds, twitching slightly with the pain movement elicited. The huge man smiled, wicked and cruel. He reached over to a first aid kit, the sound of him rifling through it endlessly loud in the silence that had overcome the bus. He wiped his fingers carefully with an alcohol wipe before thrusting his fingers into Wally's bullet wound. Wally let out a strangled scream that turned to pained moans and whimpers as the man continued to probe in the wound. The huge man started talking, "Now, now. We don't want the bullet left in here, do we?"

Finally, the man pulled his fingers out, bringing the bullet with him. Wally gasped, sagging against his bonds. He didn't even have enough in him to whimper when the man grasped Wally's chin in his bloody fingers, forcing the eight-year-old to look the huge man right in the eyes. The man stared at him before smirking and pushing Wally's head away. He stood up, towering over Wally's small form. He glanced out at the rest of the metahumans locked in the bus, "I'm sure you've been hearing about how we're bringing you to these camps to cure you and to protect you. That's false. We're bringing you here to experiment on you and make you  _work_. It's the least you freaks can do to make up for existing. Some of you are going to be used primarily for brute force with occasional experiments – like you monster in the back. Some of you, like this little  _hero_ , are going to be used primarily for experiments. This one can recover fast enough for a lot of experiments." Wally shivered in his seat as the man eyed him dangerously before the man continued, "There will be no escape. And the punishment for escape attempts will not be something so simple as death."

He eyed them all for another long moment before turning back to the front of the bus and motioning for the driver to start driving again. He casually wiped the blood off his hands with a wipe and tossed the bloody rag on the floor.

Wally shook against the fear, the adrenaline rush, the pain, the strange feeling of his skin knitting back together as he sat there, the loneliness. He shook against the injustice of the situation. He shook against the knowledge that this was about to be his life.


	2. Meeting the Team

WWWWWW

Wally scowled down at his reports and rubbed at the back of his neck, cracking it slowly and leaning back in his chair. He scrubbed at his eyes and leaned forward again to keep reading the reports. Where on earth was the Light getting all those metahumans? After starting the Circus roughly a year ago, Wally had managed to dismantle a good portion of the big metahuman groups, having them either killed or brought somewhere safe to be rehabilitated.

The Circus had grown larger than Wally could have ever guessed. He had known that there were a lot of people who were hiding their abilities, but he hadn't truly understood how large that number was until the Circus had started offering their support to any and all good metahumans. People had flooded in from every direction. There were people who had been hiding for years, there were those who had been blending in with humans for years, and there was the occasional person who had broken out of one of the camps.

All the other metahumans were careful and respectful around the ones who had broken out of a camp. There weren't a lot. Wally's main group – the group that actually made up the original, attack group – had all escaped from the same camp and then there were maybe three others. The camps were notoriously difficult to escape from. There were a lot of attempts, but not a lot of successes.

Once membership got too large and the powers too untrained, the Circus had decided to add an extra interest to their agenda: finding a new home for the metahumans. That had taken a lot of research and dead ends. Eventually, the main group had found Gorilla City. After proving that they really were ostracized from human society and truly just wanted to escape, the talking gorillas (and, really, that shouldn't be as weird as it was) showed them how the cloaking for their city worked. The metahumans took the knowledge and tweaked it and made it fit their needs. There was now an ever growing, self-sustained town of metahumans in the mountains of Canada.

The Circus protected the town and smuggled people to it whenever they needed to. So far, they haven't tried freeing a camp, but they definitely had plans in the works for that.

They were, luckily, funded by a few  _very_  rich metahumans who supported the mission. Wally respected the rich ones the most. Those people were perfectly fine in society, living life completely free and living well, but they were willing to risk all of that to help those who weren't as privileged as them.

But reminiscing about the successes of the Circus didn't change the failure that Wally was looking at spelled out in the reports. He rubbed at his eyes again, sighing.

"You need to relax sometime. You're way too uptight." A voice said, coming out of the darkness and startling Wally, nearly sending him tumbling out of his chair. Cameron laughed at him, clutching his stomach and wheezing, "You should have seen your face!"

"Don't do that!" Wally gave a tiny smile, clutching his chest and willing his already ridiculously fast heart to slow down a little bit, "You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days. You're going to need a pretty fantastic defibrillator to get it going again, too."

"He's right, though." Dinah said, plopping gracefully (how was that even possible?) into one of the other seats of the round table they used for meetings. Wally rolled his eyes as Dinah continued, "Just saying, kid. Take a break. Have a vacation. Give the reigns a little slack."

"Why are we talking about horses?" Kelvin asked, forehead shifting in a way that indicated that if he had eyebrows, they would have been raised. He followed Dinah into the room and followed her example of sitting in one of the chairs.

Dinah sighed and rolled her eyes rather aggressively, "We weren't talking about horses, idiot." Wally and Cameron shared a secretive look behind the two's backs. For all that they acted like they hated each other, they were the perfect team and often acted as the mom and dad of the group. Then again, they were the only two adults in a group of people whose parents were often sore spots, so it wasn't all that surprising that they fell into the roles so easily.

Garfield, Jinx, and Lorraine all walked in a moment later, casually moving into their regular chairs. Jinx drawled in a bored tone, "So, what's up?"

"What's up is that I'm being unincluded from another team meeting. That's what's up." Harold said, hand held to his chest in mock pain. He had walked in just moments after the other three teens had sat down.

"Not our fault you're so slow." Lorraine teased. Harold stuck his tongue out in retaliation.

When it looked like Lorraine was about to physically stand up and start a fight, Dinah called out, "Children! Calm down. We weren't having a team meeting. Cameron and I were just trying to convince our glorious leader to take a break."

"Ooh, team vacation? I want to go to Japan!" Garfield called out, hopping excitedly in his seat.

Wally gave another smile, a mere shifting of his lips, before his eyebrows drew together, "Maybe another time, Gar. We've got a problem."

"We always have problems." Jinx sighed, leaning back in her seat and idly flipping a pencil in the air in front of her.

Kelvin leaned forward, serious because Wally was serious, "What are we looking at?"

Wally threw the reports on the table, leaving them for anyone who wanted to grab them and read them for themselves. He locked his fingers behind his head and leaned back in his seat, "We're looking at a freaking massive bad guy group. The Light have been slowly infiltrating and dominating the criminal underworld for a long time. They only recently started coming in contact with the  _heroes_ , but they didn't come on our radar until really recently. Apparently, they've been scouring the metahuman underworld and recruiting like crazy. We're talking almost thirty metas added to their ranks in a little over two months." Jinx whistled, finally looking interested.

Dinah leaned forward, mouth pursing, "And this is the group we sent our guy undercover into?" Wally nodded, and Dinah frowned further, "I don't like that. He's too young to be in a group that big."

Wally's scowl more than matched hers. Kelvin and Dinah very rarely played the age card. They knew that the teens in the Circus had left childhood behind the moment the Collection Agency caught them. They knew that all of them were powerful, dedicated, determined, and dangerous. Sometimes, though, they obviously couldn't help but be worried at the fact that the oldest of the teenagers was Lorraine at seventeen. Dinah scrubbed her face and muttered, "Sorry. I know he can handle himself. I shouldn't have said that."

"It's fine." Wally said shortly, expression still slightly twisted.

Dinah sent him a crooked smile, "Besides, who better do we have to put in an organization? He fits in with metas and with groups that don't want metas. He can always say that the gods blessed him or something and pull whatever trash that Amazon pulled to get out of the camps or to get him through meta haters."

Harold's nose wrinkled, "Why did we send him into a group that wasn't making any splashes in the meta world?"

Cameron was the one who answered, "They have a pretty legit meta on the main council. That Queen Bee chick from that one country? I don't remember the name…"

"Bialya?" Garfield tried. Cameron snapped and tapped the bridge of his nose, indicating that was the right answer. Wally tried to force a smile on his face at the action, but his lips didn't quite respond. He hadn't been good at smiling for a long time. Harold nodded his understanding.

"So, what's the problem?" Cameron asked, "This sounds pretty simple to me. Get our guy to pull some strings and get a couple of us recruited. Apply some pressure from the outside, start tearing it apart from the inside. Gather some sympathetics, take down the humans. We've done that scheme a thousand times already."

Wally twisted his lips, "Want to hear the names of all the members on the council? Queen Bee, Vandal Savage, The Brain, Lex Luthor, Klarion, and Ra's al Ghul." Jinx whistled again, eyes wide and mouth slightly parted. The rest weren't much better, staring at him in varying degrees of shock. He nodded at them and continued, "Yeah, exactly. That's only including the main group. They've got a ton of allies. Black Manta was seen to be working with them. Psimon. Kobra. That Injustice League thing was their doing. They've got allies everywhere and not all of them are human or metahuman. We're facing things we don't know how to face."

"What do we do then?" Kelvin asked, massive forehead crinkling over pure white eyes.

Wally bit his lip slightly, glancing around him. Lorraine sighed, "I know that face. That's your 'I-have-an-idea-but-none-of-you-will-like-it' face. I hate that face."

Cameron whipped his head around and narrowed his eyes at Wally before announcing, "Yep, I see it."

Wally rolled his eyes and lightly shoved his best friend's shoulder, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I do have an idea, though. And probably none of you will like it."

"Just spit it out." Jinx groused, inspecting her nails.

"We should contact the Justice League and get them to help." Wally pushed out quickly. For a second, he received nothing but blank stares and he was worried that he'd accidently spoken too fast.

Then everyone promptly blew up at him and he knew that they'd understood him.

Wally called for order, "Hey! One at a time!" Everyone instantly quieted. Thankfully their team worked well together and were willing to talk things out. Wally said, "Give me a second to defend myself. We cannot handle the Light on our own and, as they are now, they're a threat to everything we've built this past year. They're not good news for anyone and I'm not going to sit around and do nothing as they tear the world apart. We might be willing to die for our people, but we don't have to in this case. If we can work with the Team for this one single mission, then it'll be fine. And maybe we might change their minds about metahumans. It would be nice to have some support from heroes on that front."

Cameron snorted, "You're dreaming if you ever think that the mini-heroes – or  _any_  heroes – are going to start accepting us and backing up our case to the rest of the humans." Wally gave him a look and Cameron raised his hands, eyebrows drawing together, "Look, Walls, you  _hate_  heroes. I guess I'm just a little confused where this is coming from. Never once in the time I've known you have you had a good thing to say about the heroes, their sidekicks, their teams, or their abilities."

"The Team has been able to push the Light back quite a bit recently. They've done more than we have in this case." Wally pointed out.

Cameron nodded, but he was still frowning, "Still, Wally." He sighed and tried again, "Look, you know me. I'll tell you straight out if an idea is stupid, but I'll still support it. I trust anything you say. And, shockingly enough, I'm not actually opposed to this idea. I'm just really confused where it's coming from. And I feel like the rest of the group will understand your point of view a little better if you explain it to them, too."

Wally unlocked his fingers and leaned forward, running his hands repeatedly through his hair. One of Kelvin's huge red hands fell on his shoulder, a comforting weight. Nonetheless, Wally subtly shifted out from under it, still not used to positive contact. Kelvin frowned a little bit, but understood. Wally paused and finally answered, voice stilted, "The reason… I used to love heroes. I thought they were awesome. They were… they were what I aspired to be. I really thought they were awesome. When we were taken to the camp. I… it was… for  _months_  I sat there and dreamt that a hero would come and save me. I hoped and prayed and did everything I could think of to get at least one of them to come save us. But they didn't. For  _six years_  they didn't. So, I just… I started hating them. And I realized that I hated them for a purely selfish reason. When… that last batch of metas we saved from the metahuman trafficking ring? There was a girl who spat in my face and said, 'Why save me? Why not save my little sister, who's stuck in one of the camps? Are you too scared to go back? Too scared to save the rest?' And I realized that it wasn't the heroes' faults. It's hard saving people. And yeah, maybe they don't know what's going on, maybe they do know, and they don't care. That doesn't matter. It wasn't their fault." Wally's lips twisted again, and he stared down at his lap.

Dinah's voice was pained when she asked, "Wally, that was  _weeks_  ago? Why have you been holding that in for so long?"

Lorraine groaned dramatically, "Why do you even bother asking him that? It's the same answer every time he pulls something like that."

Harold and Garfield recited in unison, "I didn't want to worry you guys. You have your own problems to deal with. You don't need mine on top of it."

Wally rolled his eyes, "I know, I know. I need to get better at talking about my feelings and letting you guys help. I'm working on it, I swear. I told you guys when I broke my finger the other day, remember? I'm getting better!"

Kelvin laughed before ruffling his hair, gently and only for a second, "That's all we ask for, fearless leader."

"So, are we really doing this?" Jinx asked before clarifying, "Are we really going to ask the heroes for help?"

Wally glanced at the group. Cameron with his bright white hair and glowing blue eyes. Kelvin with his flowing black mane, and his red, armor like skin. Dinah with her long blond hair and fierce expression. Garfield with his green hair and green eyes and green skin. Harold with his boyish face and open brown eyes. Jinx with her pale ashen skin and the way her expression lit up when she was interested. Lorraine with her burnt orange hair and intelligent blue eyes. Each and every one gave him the nod he needed.

He settled tired, sad green eyes on his team, on the people he escaped horror with. This was his family. These were the people he would die for. Wally nodded to Harold, "Let's send the message then."

DDDDDD

Dick watched as Artemis drummed her fingers against her armrest again. Roy finally snapped, turning towards her, "Will you  _stop_ that?"

Her cheeks pinked slightly, but she glared heatedly at him, "Maybe if we weren't waltzing right into a trap, I'd stop doing that! This whole plan is stupid!"

"Oh my God!" Roy cried, throwing his hands in the air, "We  _know_! We get that you don't like this plan. Tough!"

Kaldur worded it a little gentler, "The Light is becoming too much for us to handle. Even with the skills we all possess, we are going up against… metahumans. The Circus is skilled in fighting metahumans and have information regarding the Light. They reached out to us with information and a chance at an alliance. They allowed us to choose the location. We need this alliance, Artemis."

Artemis set her jaw, but didn't say anything else for a few seconds. Dick thought she was done, until she suddenly growled, "This is definitely a trap."

"I am sure that they are not that mean, Artemis. They are just trying to help!" M'gann asserted cheerfully.

Raquel added seriously, "Even if it is a trap, we're good. They've gotta do a lot to take us down."

"They're a terrorist organization. We're colluding with  _terrorists_." Artemis argued, trying to get the rest of them to see her point.

Conner frowned slightly, "They're doing the same thing we are. They're fighting people that normal people can't fight."

Artemis pursed her lips and glared out the window of the bioship, "They're  _not_  doing the same thing we are.  _We_  don't kill. We don't dole out our own punishments. We leave that up to the justice system, like we're supposed to. These people broke out of the camps that are helping them get cured and started tearing up cities and killing people for their own wacked form of  _justice_. They are not like us."

Dick sighed, "Just leave it, Artemis. We're practically there anyways. It's not like we can back out now. It'll work out fine." She huffed, but didn't say anything back. Dick considered that good enough. He understood her reasoning, he really did, but they'd agreed as a group that they were going to meet the Circus, so that's what they were going to do.

The Circus was somewhat of a mystery in the crime-fighting world. The group had started roughly a year ago. They didn't know who all was in it. They didn't know who led it. They didn't know the numbers. They weren't even sure what powers each person had. The group infuriated Batman, who tried as hard as he could to catch them, but has, as of yet, ended up empty handed.

That was why it had come as such a shock when Batman had received a message from the Circus, asking for a meeting. They said that they couldn't handle the Light on their own, that the organization was too big for them to take down, but that they had information that they were willing to give the Team along with a temporary alliance in order for the Light to be dismantled. Everyone had suspected a trap, but Dick wasn't sure what to think. The message seemed a little too desperate, a little too forcibly polite to be a trap. Dick thought that the Circus was as split on this meeting as the Team was.

That was understandable, too, with the amount of times that the superheroes had tried capturing various members of the Circus. This situation must be as difficult for them as it was for the Team. Besides, the Circus was made entirely of metahumans and no metahuman was ever truly comfortable around people who weren't metahumans. They seemed to think that they were better than normal humans and went around isolating themselves. No one particularly liked metahumans, mainly because they were unnatural and almost always dangerous. Superheroes, used to people with powers (aliens or different species) and dangerous friends, disliked metahumans for their elitist attitude and their refusal to help humans protect the earth.

That was yet another strange part of this meeting. The Circus didn't help humans. They never once knocked a human out of the line of fire, or stopped a human from getting hurt. They didn't seem to care at all if a human was injured, leaving them there instead of carting them to a hospital. The Circus would always save their own skin first before saving a human's. But now they were risking their entire organization to take down the Light. Was there something going on that the Justice League didn't know? What made the Circus so interested in taking the Light down? It didn't make sense.

Dick was brought out of his thoughts by the feel of the bioship tilting towards the ground. Miss Martian settled them gently on the ground and took a brief moment to set up the mind link. Finally ready, the group looked at each other before trooping out of the bioship, coming out in the clearing that they'd specified for the meeting.

Within seconds of exiting the ship, a teenager, about average height for a girl, came out of the other side of the clearing. Her hair was a light burnt orange and her skin tan. A good portion of her face was covered with a large domino mask. Based on it's pristine coloring, it was obvious that she didn't wear this into the field. Otherwise, she was wearing perfectly normal, innocuous clothing. Overall, she looked average. She looked like a human.

Aqualad stepped forward, "Hello, my name is Aqualad and I am the leader of the Team. I presume you know the rest of the members?" He swept out a hand to indicate the group gathered behind him, all decked out in their superhero suits with weapons loaded but sheathed.

The girl smiled politely and answered, "Yes, I know your other members. You may call me Firehawk. I am the, per se, face of the Circus. I will represent them initially in the meeting."

Aqualad tilted his head curiously, "There will be no other members of the Circus at this meeting?"

The polite smile creased a little in worry before Firehawk responded, "There are other members not far away, to act as a protection detail of sorts. When we have ascertained whether an alliance with you would be beneficial, they will reveal themselves."

Robin frowned, "So you're saying that we have to go through this meeting potentially surrounded by metahumans without knowing how many of them there are or who they are or what they can do? We just have to go through the meeting like that? With that unfair disadvantage against us?" He neglected to mention that Superboy could probably smell/hear all of the people who were surrounding them.

Robin sent out mentally,  _Superboy, can you get a lock on who's around us?_

Superboy responded instantly,  _There are six people surrounding us. Two are adults and the rest are other teenagers. There's one that… doesn't seem right. He's shaped strangely._

 _They are metahumans_ , Artemis responded back. Superboy sent her a mental nod.

"Do you wish for the information and chance of a team up or not?" Firehawk was asking, voice taking on a slightly sharper edge.

"And if we won't trust this information without getting it straight from the leader?" Red Arrow asked carefully.

The polite smile didn't shift, but there still seemed to be a darker edge to Firehawk's expression when she answered just as carefully, "Then you will not receive the information." Red Arrow inclined his head towards her. Fair enough. Robin watched as she tilted her head curiously for a moment before inclining her head back to him.

Aqualad took over the conversation again, "Can you tell us at least how you received this information?"

"The Circus has a spy on the inside of the Light. They are feeding us information as they obtain higher positions in the organization." Firehawk responded.

"And there's no chance that the Light knows that this person is a spy and giving you information? There's no chance that this information is tainted?" Red Arrow clarified.

Firehawk's voice was droll when she answered, "There is always a chance that information is tainted. I would have thought that you'd know that."

Artemis raised her eyebrows and scowled, "If you're the best person for negotiations and the like in your little group, then I can't imagine how rude the rest of your lot are."

"Certainly less rude than you. We're trying to help you and you've done nothing but doubt us and insinuate that we don't know what we're doing. News flash: we've been a team and fighting crime longer than you have. We know what we're doing." Firehawk scowled back.

Aqualad tried to diffuse the tension, "Please, excuse Artemis. She is simply concerned over this interaction. The Circus has not been known to be particularly welcoming nor helpful to hero groups. We are confused as to why you chose now to help us."

"We chose now because the Light wasn't a problem before then. We've dealt with purely metahuman groups which is something we can handle. We're smart enough to know when we can't handle something, and we know we can't handle metahumans  _and_  whatever else they've got on that team. We're not even sure what some of those people are." Firehawk said, grabbing one arm with the other and shifting her weight slightly.

Zatanna responded with a friendly smile, "Honestly, we're not even sure  _who_  some of the members of the Light are."

Firehawk opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by the shrill call of a bird. The white slots of her mask widened, and she stepped backwards. The call came again, three short bursts and then a long one. Almost at the same time, Superboy called out, "There's someone coming."

Firehawk stumbled back a step or two before scowling fiercely at the group of gathered teenage heroes. She snarled, "You led someone here!"

Artemis snarled back, "It wasn't us! You must have been careless getting here!"

Firehawk's hands clenched and she moved back towards the Team, looking like she was ready to fight, "There was no way someone could track the way we got here, trust me. It wasn't us." Robin eyed her warily. She didn't exactly look like the type who was able to fight someone. Didn't she say that she was the face of the Circus, guarded by other members? Where were the other members?

Miss Martian shook her head in distress, "The bioship that we used to get here is invisible the entire way. They couldn't have tracked that either!"

"Then you might want to consider the idea that you have a spy." Firehawk said, face warily turning from person to person carefully as if that could tell her who the spy was. Robin shifted uncomfortably. The issue of a spy was something the Team had been struggling with for a while now. They were no closer to figuring out who it was or if there was even one.

Apparently, the subject was a sore topic for Red Arrow too because he snapped, "And it couldn't have been one of yours?"

Despite the fact that they could only see the bottom half of Firehawk's face, they could all see the way that it closed off with that comment. Her voice was like ice cold fire when she hissed, "Don't you  _ever_ insinuate that we have betrayed each other." Red Arrow set his jaw and obviously bit back a retort.

Aqualad again worked to diffuse the tension, "Superboy, what is it?"

"It's the Light." Firehawk answered clearly.

"How do you know?" Artemis asked, instantly suspicious.

Firehawk spared her a disdainful glance, "That bird call? It was a warning system. One call to warn of an intruder. Three short calls and a long one to indicate that it was the Light."

Superboy expanded on her answer, "There are about twenty enemies. We're surrounded. It sounds like Ra's al Ghul's people."

Aqualad glanced at the member of the Circus and apparently came to the same conclusions Robin had. He said, "Firehawk, you should go back to the other Circus members. We will handle this threat and you can come back when it is safe."

Firehawk turned to him and gave him an affronted look, "Are you serious? If anything, you guys should stay back. I wouldn't want you guys to get hurt in a real fight." Red Arrow was about to snap something at her, but then she started… changing.

The mask fell away as her skin darkened to a slightly golden tan, cheekbones sharpening. Robin didn't get a chance to see what color her eyes were before the entire eyeball was covered in a glowing white sheen, obscuring her pupils, irises, and sclera. Burnt orange hair burst into bright white flames that matched the new color of her eyes. Long red and orange blades of feathers sprouted from her arms, white fire rippling to life around her wrists and ankles. Her normal, everyday clothes were replaced with a skin tight black suit dominated by an orange hawk. She was a completely different person.

With a smirk that said exactly what she was thinking, Firehawk shot into the air, hovering above them and looking around the clearing. Robin looked around too, trying to spot one of the interlopers. No matter what she said, he wasn't going to sit back and watch her fight them by herself.

Before he got a chance to even spot one of the enemies, though, Firehawk was blasting that bright white fire at a clump of Ra's al Ghul's assassins. As the assassins dodged, Firehawk mentally pushed the fire towards their retreating forms. The group of assassins hit the ground hard, clothes smoking and bodies unmoving. The Team watched, wide-eyed, as Firehawk single-handedly took out the gathered forces, not even giving them a chance to fight back as she struck them all down.

She settled herself to the ground, landing delicately. The fire around her wrists and ankles didn't seem to actually be burning the ground.

Artemis and Red Arrow both had tight grips on their bows, but they hadn't fitted arrows yet. Robin himself had a batarang ready and Aqualad's water bearers were seconds away from activating.

Firehawk bared her teeth at them, "Seriously? This is how you treat your first sight of a Circus meta? That says a lot for what an alliance between our two groups would be like. I'm real impressed. Maybe we should rethink our stance on this subject."

Aqualad mentally sent out,  _Put away your weapons. We cannot lose this alliance. The metahumans are skilled._

Out loud, he said, "We are putting our weapons away. We were merely startled. You had not given off the impression of being so… powerful."

Firehawk pursed her lips, but relaxed a little bit.

Suddenly, there was a trilling call of a bird. There was a pause while the Team tensed, not sure what this meant. It wasn't the same call that had been given when there were intruders. What was going on?

Firehawk, though, relaxed even further, a fond smile softening her features, "I guess there's going to be a team up after all. The leader's given permission. The others are coming out."

The first one was a small green bird. It made the same happy trilling noise that it had made earlier. Firehawk smiled at the creature that landed briefly on her shoulder, "This is Changeling."

The reason for his name became apparent quite quickly when the bird flew to the ground and started shifting, feathers disappearing and bones rearranging themselves. Within the blink of an eye, there was a teenaged boy with green skin, pointed ears, and a cheap domino mask obscuring his eyes. There was a little fang sticking out of his lips. He was wearing a skintight purple and black suit. Changeling grinned at them and waved cheerfully. It was obvious that he had none of the hesitance Firehawk had come into the situation with.

Firehawk waved a hand towards the trees, "This is Ballistic." A huge, towering figure – probably the one Superboy had identified as being strangely shaped – came out of the trees. His mass of black hair was held back by a green cowl, eyes completely white and skin a red plated armor. There were two little horns sticking out of his chin. He was armed to the teeth with weapons. Ballistic came to a stop next to Firehawk, towering over her completely. She didn't seem overly concerned with the monster towering over her. Robin had to force himself not to outwardly react to the figure. Some of the others weren't as controlled and Firehawk's lips twisted in disappointment. Ballistic seemed unconcerned with their reactions, probably used to it.

"This is Black Canary and Jinx." Firehawk nodded her head towards the two girls who came out from behind the bioship. Black Canary was tall and beautiful, domino mask covering her face, but clothing not doing much to cover the rest. Her body piece left all of her legs covered only by fishnet leggings and was rather low hanging on the top. She was wearing a choker and a dark blue, quarter sleeve jacket. Her fingerless gloves were a black leather that matched her mid-calf boots. Jinx, though, had an uninterested set to her face, the rest covered by a black domino mask. Her hair was bubblegum pink and defied gravity in two upwards pigtails. She was stick thin with black and purple clothing that leaned towards a gothic design. Her feet were swallowed by huge purple and black shoes. Her skin was legitimately grey.

Two more guys came out next, Firehawk introducing them as, "Maser and Icicle." Maser was fitted out in an electric blue suit with bright yellow elbow gloves and midthigh yellow boots. His collar was a huge lightning bolt that ended at his waist. He had an electric blue cowl with yellow sticks pointing upwards over his ears. Icicle was literally made of ice, joints extenuated with sharp points of ice. His eyes were bright blue and his hair shockingly white. He had on a dark blue tank top with only a belt of ice to separate it from the black pants. His feet were bare, toes made of claws of ice.

Firehawk smiled then, fond and proud, "And here's the fearless leader: Supersonic."

The suit was a light grey, the boots, gloves, and a lightning bolt belt in a darker grey. His cowl was open at the top, letting loose a mane of wild red waves. His chest was left empty, no recognizable symbol. Most importantly, though, he was obviously a teenager.

Red Arrow focused in on that point, asking incredulously, "Seriously? You're lead by a kid?"

"Thank you. That makes me feel great about myself." Supersonic deadpanned, expression completely straight.

"Hey, no hating on the fearless leader." Icicle said, grinning broadly at Supersonic, who simply ignored him. Icicle pouted at him.

Firehawk gave the impression of rolling her eyes, "Do you see why they send me out first to make a good impression? The rest of these losers would lose people's interest in two seconds flat. Completely useless."

Changeling stuck out his lower lip and whined, "They'd send me if I wasn't such a good warning system. I'm friendly! And not useless!"

"I greatly doubt the second one." Jinx stated blandly, observing her nails.

"Guys." Supersonic said, pinching his nose. The rest of the group straightened to attention immediately, perking Robin's interest. That was some impressive control that the leader had over the rest of the Circus. They hung on his every word. Supersonic continued, "Sorry about them. We're not used to people. If you're still interested in an alliance, we're willing to offer ourselves to it, along with all the information we have or will get in the future. But, if we're going to hash out the details of that, then this isn't the best place. It's already been compromised." There wasn't a hint of accusation in his voice when he pointed that out, which Robin appreciated.

Robin sent out telepathically,  _Where else is safe?_

 _The only safe places I can think of are the Watchtower and the Cave and I don't really think we want to bring them back there,_ Artemis answered immediately.

 _It would be a show of trust?_  Zatanna pointed out, sending out a metal shrug to go with it.

Rocket mentally pursed her lips,  _Then why don't they bring us to their place?_

Aqualad's voice in their head was stern when he responded,  _This is probably very difficult for them. The Circus has never worked with another organization before and the Justice League has tried to capture them on multiple occasions. It would not be fair to ask them to give up their base._

 _And it's fair for us to?_ Artemis asked angrily.

The Team was broken out of their silent conversation by Black Canary clearing her throat slightly, "We have a safe house not that far from here. If you'd like, we can lead you there and we'll finish our meeting in the house."

Robin raised an eyebrow, more than a little surprised at their willingness to burn a safe house like that. Aqualad inclined his head to them, "We would be grateful if you would take us in like that."

Supersonic nodded decisively, "Then that's what we'll do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, this won't be updated anywhere near as quickly as my last multichaptered fic. I'm posting this one as I write it, so there should be about one chapter a week, and it will be updated typically on the weekends.


	3. Making a Plan

DDDDDD

Dick shuffled slightly from foot to foot, glancing around at the gathered group, "So… how are we going to get back to your safe house? We don't know the way and if we just follow you, then we're basically painting a path to your place."

The leader, Supersonic, gave him a momentary glance, but ended up addressing the entire group, "How does this sound for a plan? Changeling and Black Canary come back with me and the rest of the Circus goes with you guys in your – what did you call it? Bioship? – and lead you to the house. We'll have it unlocked for you guys when you get there."

Miss Martian made a worried noise, "The bioship is rather fast. Should we give you a head start?"

Ballistic laughed, a deep throaty sound that was kind of terrifying to hear, "Don't worry. He'll be there when we get there."

Supersonic brought the attention back to the matter at hand, "Are you alright with that idea, or do you want to do something else?"

Aqualad answered firmly, "We will go with this idea."

"Good." Supersonic nodded. The group split up around him, Changeling shifting into a little mouse and rushing up Supersonic's suit and into a small little compartment that Supersonic closed around the green creature. Black Canary waited leaned up against a tree, watching the group silently. Dick stared at her and Supersonic, not entirely certain how that was going to work. He didn't understand how they expected to beat the bioship back to the safehouse. Even with having to rely on directions, it shouldn't take that long to get the safehouse. Whatever. He was about to find out in a moment. No sense worrying about it.

He watched as Icicle and Supersonic shared a long, important look before Icicle moved over to the rest of the Circus, shepherding them over towards the gathered members of the Team. Mentally, Robin sent out,  _Icicle is the second in command. Notice the way they're all following his lead? Weird that the first and second in command are both kids when there are two adults in the Circus. At least, they look like adults._

 _I'm kind of impressed_ , Zatanna sent back momentarily,  _I mean, how hard did you guys fight to form this Team? And we still are technically led by Batman. We have to go through him for everything and Red Tornado is always watching us. Wonder Woman is a den mother too. It's impressive that they can run a team like that without having to work under adults._

Artemis grumbled back,  _I'm not impressed_. Dick was pretty sure he heard Red Arrow snort off to the side.

Icicle was the one who approached them, "So, we gonna head out, or no? Because we're basically sitting ducks right now. I mean, whenever you're ready, but…"

Aqualad nodded his head in acknowledgement, "You are right. We should head out now. Everyone, please enter the bioship. Miss Martian, if you would make enough seats to accommodate all of our guests?"

As the mix of Circus members and Team members trooped onto the ship, Dick caught a brief sight of Supersonic's worried face, expression tense and concerned. It was obvious that he didn't actually trust the Team with his members, that he was just doing this to build good will between the two groups. It was a sign of a good alliance that he was willing to do that even though it obviously stressed him out.

When the ground of the ship shifted and morphed to add more chairs, Maser's mouth dropped open. His hands hovered just over one of the chairs, curious fingers coming close, but not actually touching the material of the chair, "How does this work? How does this morph like that? Is it technologically driven, or magic driven? What kind of neurological impulses would it require to alter the chemical structure like this? The material obviously changed from ground to chair which obviously has different chemical makeup. That's  _so_  cool."

Icicle rolled his eyes fondly and threw out to the group at large, "You don't have to answer him when he's geeking out. Just let him bask in his loser-ness alone."

"Jerk." Maser mumbled. Icicle rolled his eyes again.

M'gann giggled prettily, "I'm not entirely certain how specifically it works. All I know is that I'm connected to the bioship in a sort of mind-link. Then I can use my telekinesis to alter the ship."

Maser nodded appraisingly, "Hmm…"

Dick noticed that the Circus members had yet to sit down even though the Team members were already buckled in. He gestured to the open seats, "Hey, you guys can go ahead and sit down. Any empty seats are open for you guys."

He watched carefully as Icicle took a deep breath before gently sitting himself down. He seemed to release a breath as he did so, running an icy hand over the side of the seat. The rest of the group follow suit. Miss Martian called out, "Would one of you be willing to direct me?" Icicle glanced over at Jinx. She stared expressionlessly back at him for a moment before sighing dramatically. She waggled her fingers in front of her and, shockingly enough, the air seemed to ripple in front of them. A chunk of earth lifted out of the ground, shifting and sifting dirt down onto the ground below until there was a perfectly formed dirt arrow in front of the ship.

Icicle beamed at Jinx and turned to Miss Martian, "Just follow where the arrow is pointing, and you'll get the safe house fine."

Miss Martian nodded, obviously surprised. Dick looked out the window again to stare at the dirt arrow, but a slight movement caught his attention. He watched in surprise as Supersonic – who appeared wiry and somewhat weak – picked up Black Canary, who was taller than him and seemed to be densely packed with muscles.

Supersonic seemed to have no trouble picking her up, cradling her in a bridal carry that seemed so natural that it was obvious that they'd done it before. Then, within a blink of an eye, the two were gone. The only sign that they had been there was the puff of loose dirt and a few lasting streaks of lightning. Dick stared with wide eyes and mouth hanging open.

He wasn't the only one. Rocket let out a strangled, "What just happened?"

Icicle smiled softly, "That's our fearless leader. Fastest person you'll ever meet."

Red Arrow asked incredulously, "That was him  _running_? I thought he had teleported or something."

The hulking form that was Ballistic rumbled out a soft laugh, "It's like the kid said: fastest person you'll ever meet. Pretty nifty, isn't it? That's how he brought us all here. He ran us over and took different paths every time. That's how we knew that no one had followed us. No one's fast enough to follow him."

Rocket side-eyed Ballistic, glancing him up and down. He rumbled out another laugh, "Don't let that scrawny body deceive you. The leader's got some good muscles on him. He's carried me some impressive distances." Robin felt himself smiling. Despite how physically imposing Ballistic was, he seemed rather easy-going.

The same could be said for a lot of the metas. They certainly weren't anything like Dick had been expecting when this whole thing started. First of all, their powers definitely hadn't been exaggerated. If anything, the power of metas had been  _under_ exaggerated. It was awe-inspiring to think about – scary too. These people had been human. They were born and raised normally just like all the other humans in the world. And then something happened, and they had these monumental powers, these enormous abilities that seemed nigh-godlike. Dick worked with aliens and Amazons and Atlanteans, but they were all something else. They weren't human like these people had been, like Dick was. They were born with these abilities, with the power and responsibility to wield them. The metas? They had power thrusted upon them. They had to make the decision of what to do with that power within moments of obtaining it. That was a recipe for disaster.

Second of all, though, was the fact that the metahumans didn't act anything like they were rumored to. Most of them were actually nice. Ballistic seemed to have a sense of humor and a contagious laugh, soft laugh lines adding character to his bright red complexion. Changeling had been nothing but bright smiles and snaggle teeth. Icicle had a look in his eyes like he was constantly laughing at something. None of them acted superior. When they explained something or another, they genuinely explained it. There was no pride or snobbery anywhere in their voices, only simple fact and slight humor.

Jinx seemed a little bit more like a stereotypical metahuman – brusque and put-upon when asked to do anything – but even that didn't seem to be specifically against the humans. From the interactions that Dick had seen, the rest of the members of the Circus fully expected her to act that way. It seemed as if she treated even them that way. She wasn't acting superior towards the humans.

Firehawk and Black Canary had been more outwardly cautious than the rest of the members of the Circus which made them appear more standoffish and anti-human, but Dick was fairly certain that they were just being protective of the rest of the group. The way Firehawk had smiled softly at the other members as they appeared in the clearing had shown that she thought very highly of them and was rather protective. Black Canary had the same kind of feel to her, along with a sense of age that gave her actions a motherly tint.

Maser gave off the impression of being completely oblivious to species lines. It was as if metahuman was human was Martian was Atlantean to him. There was no cautiousness, no worried hesitation lining his words. He was blunt and intelligent and completely uncaring. Dick thought that it was probably a good thing that Maser had the rest of the Circus to balance that out. There were a lot of problems that could arise from someone who was so ignorant of social cues.

Third of all, there was their leader. From the sparse and rumor riddled stories that had made its way to hero ears about the Circus, their leader had sounded like some sort of six-foot-tall hero with flowing hair and unstoppable power comparable to the gods. He had sounded like a grizzled old man who held his team together through tough love that led to respect. He certainly hadn't sounded like a thin, bony teenager who had a world-weary, exhausted set to his shoulders and lips that didn't quite seem able to form a smile.

The entirety of the Circus was a contradiction wrapped up in a riddle and Dick didn't know what to make of it. Most of the time, he liked challenges, liked unravelling mysteries. This time, though, there was too much on the line. The Light was dangerous. They were more than aware of the atrocities that would occur if the Light were to win, more than aware of the atrocities that had already occurred at the hands of the Light. The Team didn't have time to uncover the tangled complexities of the Circus. They needed compliance and a real alliance built on trust. Unfortunately, Dick figured there was a good chance the Circus wasn't going to give up their secrets so fast.

WWWWWW

Wally came down from the upstairs, having just ensured that there was nothing incriminating sitting out, and locking all the relevant doors. Garfield and Dinah were sat at the kitchen table, quietly locked in a battle of rock paper scissors. Wally raised an amused eyebrow, "Are you two fighting for something, or just determining which of you is the ultimate rock paper scissors champion?"

"The latter." Dinah answered distractedly, countenance faced towards the epic battle being played out between the two metas.

Rolling his eyes, Wally called out, "Everything good in the kitchen? Nothing I need to worry about?"

"Mhm." Gar answered, just as distractedly.

Amusedly, Wally watched the game play out, leaning against the door jam. He let his tense expression drop for a moment as he considered the heroes.

Honestly, they were about what he'd been expecting: ranging from openly hostile, to uncomfortable, to politely welcoming. Based on everything he'd witnessed about the heroes from television or news outlets, he'd gotten a good understanding of each member's character. They should think about fixing that. Even though they were a covert ops team that people weren't supposed to know about, all the people who mattered (other people invested in the world of heroes and villains) knew about them. All they had to do was watch TV that covered info on the cities that each hero protected, and they'd know a good deal about their character and their team dynamic placement. That was a weak link that they should consider fixing. It was probably too late already, but there was always a chance that it could be fixed.

Wally frowned, irritated. Why was he even thinking about what the Team could do better? Sure, their failings now reflected on and affected Wally's group, but that didn't mean that he needed to worry about it. He could protect his own if the need arose. He hoped the need didn't arise, but that was hardly relevant. It didn't matter what he thought the Team could do better. All that mattered was if he thought the alliance would work.

He certainly hoped so because he was burning a safe house for this alliance. If it didn't work, then he didn't know what he was going to do. The Circus's mole was still in the Light and would be difficult to extract without throwing the Circus into the Light's eye. And no one wanted that.

Luckily, it seemed as if the leader – Aqualad – was willing to work with them. He seemed to be the most willing, although Miss Martian and Superboy had appeared mostly impartial. Nothing they had done had seemed hostile, nor overly interested. Robin, however, had definitely seemed overly interested. There was something about the way he wore his domino mask, the way he stood that seemed as if Robin's eyes had been boring straight through him, into his soul. It wasn't a comfortable feeling.

Then again, Robin and his mentor Batman were known to be incredibly smart – detective types.

The others fell somewhere between Aqualad's polite determination and outright hostility, except Artemis. She sat firmly on the side of outright hostility. There was nothing but dark anger and disgust lining her expression. Wally wasn't sure what her specific problem was with metas, but there were people like her. They didn't just dislike metas; they actively went against metas and their ideals, purposefully aiming for metas to be completely removed from human society. They didn't want reintegration. All they cared about was making sure that they never had to interact with a meta in their lives.

It was people like that – they were growing in numbers recently, causing a movement and bringing a tidal wave of difficulties on the Circus – who made Wally wonder why he bothered. Why did he bother trying to fight for his kind? All that was going to happen was that they were going to be forever in hiding and on the run, illegal just for existing. For a lot of the kids and adults living the life of a meta, that wasn't what they wanted. Most of them just wanted to go home and go back to normal. What was the point of forcing them to live this endless game of cat and mouse where they were severely disadvantaged? Why force them to watch their fellow mice lose to the cat that was humanity? Why drag them into this bloody world where life was a gift that was treasured every second because that's how quickly it could be taken from you?

Then, Wally thought of blood stained scalpels, glinting needles, painful adhesive for cold electrodes, dark restraints, so much hideous, hated red.

That's why he fought this endlessly downhill battle. That was why he would continue to fight that battle for the rest of his life, no matter how much pain it caused, how many people lost their lives to the fight. He knew what it was like to give in and surrender to the Collection Agency. He knew what it was like to live that sort of awful life. He wouldn't put that on anyone if he could help it.

So, in the end, it was only Artemis that concerned him. With the rest, they were at least going to be civil as long as it took to defeat the light.

"Uh, Wally?" Garfield asked curiously, ears flicked back slightly.

Wally's head swung up towards Garfield, "Yep?"

Dinah sent him a mildly concerned look, "You were burning holes into the floor. We were getting kind of worried. Knowing our lives, there was a good chance that the floor actually did something to offend you."

"Oh, no. Just thinking." Wally answered, shaking his head and focusing back in on his team.

Garfield's ears perked back up, "Ooh, whatcha thinking about? Huh?  _Huuuhhh_?"

Dinah hid a smile behind her hand as Wally rolled his eyes affectionately and ruffled Garfield's hair (to his consternation and Wally's amusement). Wally let out a soft sigh, "The heroes."

Dinah gave him a frankly impressive un-amused glance, "You were the one that convinced us to go with the heroes. Don't be having second thoughts on us now."

"No, no! That's definitely not what I meant!" Wally said, waving his hands around to make sure she understood, "I still think this is a good idea. Despite our setback, I think we're in a good place. I'm just worried about Artemis. She's…  _very_  hostile to the idea of metas. And, yeah, we can work with that. Whatever. She has the same goal as that and I don't think she's the kind of person to mess that up just to get at us or something. I'm just worried about… our psyches I guess? We got out of a place that tore us down at every possible moment. We don't need someone else doing that to us again. Lorraine is finally smiling again. Jinx is finally getting to the end of working through her self-worth issues. I just don't want to see all that hard work and success dumped down the drain. You guys are important to me and I don't want to see you hurt."

"We'll work through it. We always do. I'd rather take a setback or two than let the Light take over the world." Dinah smirked at the end, trying to lighten the mood.

Garfield smiled suddenly and said brightly, "Thanks for sharing that with us, Wally."

Dinah looked surprised before grinning too, "That's true. You really are growing, Wally."

Wally rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah. I get it." Sometimes, it seemed like they spent a little too much time together. And by a little, he meant a lot.  _A lot_.

A high-pitched beeping interrupted whatever (probably rude) thing Dinah was about to say, indicating that the bioship was pretty close. The trio looked to each other, sending one last glance around the room to make sure that there wasn't anything really obvious out around them. Satisfied that there was nothing, Wally made his way towards the door, flipping the locks and opening it. He stood there in the doorway, hip against one beam of wood as he watched the bioship land in his front yard, sending puffs of dirt lazily into the air.

Slowly, people trooped out of the bioship. His team came out first, Cameron sending him a small nod to let him know that it was all good and that no one had been hurt in the transition from the field to the safe house. Wally sent him a relieved nod back, some of the tension leaking from his figure.

The tension came right back in when the Team started exiting the bioship. The alien spaceship turned invisible the moment Miss Martian exited it and Wally raised an interested eyebrow. He'd  _love_  to know the science behind that.

But now wasn't really the time.

Wally called out to the gathered people, "Come on in. We can talk in the dining room. There should be enough seats." Wally stepped to the side, letting the Team walk in ahead of him, Dinah and Gar leading the group into the dining room. The rest of the Circus walked in, clapping him on the shoulder or sending him a small grin (or rolling her eyes and glaring in Jinx's case). Cameron was the only one who lingered. The two stood outside the door and Cameron made a complicated set of hand motions that basically equated to: no new information – no one made threats – civil travels. It wasn't exactly sign language because neither had really learned it before the Collection Agency got them, but it was their own improvised version. They were in the process of learning actual sign language, so they could communicate more accurately.

The dining room was… awkward when they got there. It wasn't exactly tense, a minimal amount of hatred permeating the room. It was more like they weren't sure how to interact with each other. The Team acted like this was the first time they had seen a real metahuman (which was perfectly likely) and wasn't quite certain if metas could be approached in any manner that they had learned before. The members of the Circus were acting similarly, glancing at each other to see if they could get someone else to talk first. It was awkward.

Thankfully, the Circus had Cameron there to fix that. No one on the Circus was really all that good at the whole social interaction thing, but Cameron and Lorraine had it down the best. Lorraine was better at negotiating where Cameron was better at relaxing a group of people.

Cameron clapped his hands together and said, "Alright, this is going to be hard for all of us. I don't know about you guys, but we've never really worked with another established group before. This is new territory. I expect it's about the same for you?" He waited until he received a nod before continuing on, "Cool. Well, we'll discover it together. It can't be that hard. First, we need to get the actual basics of our team-up down. In writing preferably. We're old-fashioned that way." Cameron sent the Team a winning smile that made a few of them smile back, but Artemis was definitely not smiling.

She was glaring at Cameron. Then she switched her glare onto Wally and the speedster wasn't surprised when she asked, "Do you always do all the speaking for your leader, or no?"

Aqualad hissed, "Artemis!"

Cameron, however, laughed, "Nah man, it's all good. Typically, yeah, I'll do a lot of the initial talking. We go over what Supersonic wants me to say before the actual thing and I get the conversation started. Fearless leader is a little shy, you know."

Wally punched him, hand blurring in a burst of lightning as he did so, "Shut  _up_ , Icicle."

" _Ow_!" Cameron bemoaned, rubbing at his arm pathetically, "Thanks for punching me at  _super speed_. Jerk." Wally was pretty sure he saw Superboy ducking his head to hide a smile but couldn't be sure.

Wally rolled his eyes, "Icicle is one of our best at communications. He's the smoother one, so we typically let him do the opening notes. The group as a whole discusses where we're going to go with something and then I make the final decision. Is there a problem with that?"

Aqualad answered for Artemis, "No, of course not. It was a simple misunderstanding."

Taking pity on the Team, Wally slumped a little in his chair and furrowed his brow, "You don't have to be so formal or… careful with us, you know. We get that this is a new experience for you guys too. You don't understand how we work. You don't trust us – don't try to deny what we both already know. It's understandable that there's going to be some confusion and suspicion. As long as you continue to be open in your questions and criticisms like Artemis has been, then we can answer honestly, and everything will be fine. We can't fix a problem if we don't know about it, okay?" Artemis looked honestly taken aback, a sharp, calculating expression on her face that told Wally that she would definitely be taking advantage of that practical free-reign he'd just give her.

Aqualad carefully looked at Wally, searching his masked face for a moment before nodded decisively and saying, "Of course. Please, that offer stands for us too. If there is any problem you feel it necessary to address with the Team, please simply state it to us and we will attempt to solve it."

Garfield narrowed his eyes, "Do you always talk so formal, or is that just an I'm-currently-a-leader thing?"

There was definitely a hint of a smile on Aqualad's face before he answered easily, "I am always so formal. I have served my King for a long time and it is taught to those who serve the King that they are to speak this way. It is so we do not accidently offend others who could be potential allies to my King."

"King?" Gar asked curiously, eyes lighting up, "Like, the King of Atlantis? That King?"

The smile wasn't so much of a hint now as a definite tiny smile, "Yes, Changeling. King Arthur of Atlantis, Aquaman."

There was genuine wonder in Gar's expression as he looked up at Aqualad, "I've always wanted to visit Atlantis. But whenever I'm swimming close enough to go down there, we're always on a mission, so I'm never able to just visit." Aqualad blinked at Garfield before his eyes slid carefully over to Wally. For a moment, Wally was confused, but then he realized that Aqualad was concerned for Wally's sake about the amount of information Garfield was giving out. Wally almost rolled his eyes. What could the Team do with the knowledge that a couple of the Circus's missions were near(ish) Atlantis? The concern was touching anyways.

Wally put a hand on Garfield's shoulder, "Maybe you can ask him more about it later. We really do have to get down the details of this agreement. I think leadership should be our number one priority. Can your Team operate under a joint leadership, or will we have to remain separate entities who collude on mission plans?"

Aqualad glanced at his Team for a moment and Wally followed his gaze. There was definitely some kind of telepathic communication there. Wally would bet money on it. There was no way they were making decisions like they did without telepathy. Aqualad inclined his head, "I believe that a joint leadership would be the most beneficial to this alliance. Therefore, our teams would operate under the purview of myself, as leader of the Team, and you, as leader of the Circus. Is this acceptable to you?"

Wow, this was boring. Wally knew it was going to be, but Aqualad's formal tone actually made it worse. Wow. Wally nodded, "Yeah, works for the Circus. As an addition to that, Icicle acts as leader in the case that I am unavailable for some reason or another."

Red Arrow raised an eyebrow, "Has that happened before? Should we expect that?"

Wally wrinkled his nose, "No, not really. The only times Icicle has taken charge is when I was out on a mission and he stayed behind, and something came up. I'm fast, but not always fast enough to complete a mission and get back in time to deal with whatever other crisis came up. I trust Icicle enough to deal with things like that." Cameron nodded to him with a smirk. His eyes were soft and trusting, though, thankful for the trust that Wally had given him. Wally nodded back.

"How does that work?" Rocket asked. Wally turned to her, tilting his head curiously. She flushed slightly and added, "We were thinking about it earlier and we were just wondering how having you two as the leader and second in command worked? I mean, you've got adults in the Circus, so…"

Dinah flicked her hair behind her head, "Oh please, like I'd ever volunteer to look after this crazy bunch. They're insane."

Kelvin let out a laugh, "That's the truth. These kids are crazy. Only Supersonic's patience can really handle all of that."

"I don't know. Some days, you guys really test me." Wally muttered under his breath. Superboy sent him an inscrutable glance that Wally really wasn't sure how to respond to.

Rocket pressed, "Well, I can see how that would be the case, but seriously, why have him lead? Did he just take charge, or did you pick him, or?" She trailed off and stared at them expectantly. The Circus shifted their looks onto Wally and he just shrugged.

Icicle sighed and said, "It was kind of a mix of both? He's, uh…" Cameron faltered for a moment, glancing quickly at Wally before turning back to Rocket again, "He's the one who came up with the plan to get out of the camp we were at. It was trust him to lead us out or stay at the camp. We all trusted him to get us out. When we found out that he was planning on creating the Circus – running it solo, actually – we knew that we needed to join in on it."

Robin piped up next, "What is it that you guys do, exactly? What's the point of the Circus?"

Wally had this one, "The Circus is designed to aid in the rescue, recovery, and, if needed, rehabilitation of metahumans. We're the superhero team of the meta world, basically."

"The version that kills at least." Artemis commented under her breath.

Lorraine frowned, eyes flashing a little bit, "It's kill or be killed."

Lorraine looked like she was about to get into a whole rant about that statement and the expectations leveled at them and political unfairness or something, so Wally jumped in, "Why don't we move to the next part of the alliance. Communication? How do we want that to work?"

"Would you be amiable to having our communication devices with you for us to communicate that way?" Aquaman asked.

Wally tilted his head to the side, thinking. There was a really good chance that there was going to be a tracker slipped in with the comms devices. They couldn't stay at one safe house for the duration of this mission and, besides, there was a chance that something would come up at the metahuman colony and a member of the Circus would have to go there. The Circus couldn't have potential trackers with them when they went to places like that. They'd be burning safe houses and entire cities. Wally winced a little and said, "That won't work for us. Our lifestyle involves a lot of moving around. I was willing to burn this safehouse for our alliance, but I won't burn more than this one."

"How would having a comm burn a safehouse?" Robin asked curiously. He was obviously testing Wally.

Wally met his gaze (as well as he could through each of their respective masks) and responded levelly, "You must think I'm an idiot if you think I don't know you're planning on dropping trackers wherever you can. This is an alliance that you need, but why not kill two birds with one stone? Take down the Light and gather the info necessary to bring us down while you're at it? Obviously, that will be your goal the entire time and I can't stop that, but I can minimize the damage."

Robin and Wally kept their gazes locked for a moment longer. Robin was appraising Wally, trying to see something in the speedster's countenance. When Robin finally looked away, Wally wasn't sure if he had found what he was looking for or not. Red Arrow had been watching their interaction, something curious and lightly confused in his expression as he turned away from Robin and towards Wally, "We're not faking wanting to work with you for this. We can't take on the Light where we're at now. We need some sort of leg up and you guys are the best way to it. But you are, according to pretty much every form of police in the world, criminals. Escaped convicts practically."

Wally's voice was cool when he asked, "Then why work with us at all? Some of you obviously believe that we're nothing more than the criminals the world accuses us as. Surely, there are alternatives for alliances. Why work with a team you don't trust and can't get close to? Why work with a team you intend to dismantle?"

It was Miss Martian who answered, voice more serious than he had heard it so far, "We're willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Not all of us are so willing to judge you right away. Some of us are reserving judgement. Maybe you'll surprise us." She added that sweet smile that she seemed to have perfected, a little upwards tip of her lips that was compounded by the practical sparkle in her eyes.

Wally let himself relax. This wasn't the time nor place for that confrontation. The Circus had agreed that they didn't actually care what the Team thought about them or what their plans were for them. The Circus would just have to be careful around the Team. That was all. Through the thick tension in the room, Harold cocked his head to the side and asked, "So, how were we going to do the whole communicating thing again?"

Red Arrow sighed, "If we can't communicate through comms, then I'm not sure what you want. Obviously, the easiest method would be to just stick together, find a common HQ, but I'm not sure that would work. This place is not convenient for us and you guys don't want to burn another safe house and we don't want to give up our HQ."

"Still," Kelvin mused, "The idea has merit. If we can find a place to gather all of us together, that would probably be the best option."

Jinx smirked, "Maybe we could all live in the Hall of Justice. Everyone knows where that is and it's obviously not the actual Justice League headquarters."

Zatanna and Artemis both shot Jinx slightly panicked looks which confirmed Jinx's theory more than anything. Wally rolled his eyes, "Stop messing with them, Jinx."

Red Arrow threw out, "If you guys move around so much that you can't work over comms, then how will that be any different if you live with us? We would still need to contact you over comms to get you back to wherever we're staying."

"At least one member of the Circus would stay in the place we choose at all times. They'll know how to contact the rest of us without needing your comms." Wally responded easily. It was something the group had already talked about.

"That sounds inconvenient at best." Robin frowned, shaking his head.

Red Arrow disagreed, "It also sounds like the best case scenario. Maybe, with time, we'll start to trust each other a little bit more and more avenues will be open to us. For now? This is the best way to ensure that no one's toes are being stepped on."

"We're two groups who have zero reason to trust each other. We're metas, so obviously you can't trust us. Your mentors' team has tried to capture us on multiple occasions, so obviously we can't trust you. This really is the best case scenario." Dinah threw out, sending a nod in Red Arrow's direction. The whites of his mask widened slightly before he nodded back.

Wally turned to his group, "Is the Circus alright with this being our solution?" He received nothing but nods in return, the idea already having been thrown around when they were talking about starting the alliance in the first place.

Aqualad nodded and then announced, "The Team accepts this solution as well." They must have decided that through their telecommunication. Wally wished one of the Circus attack team members had telepathy. That sounded so much easier than comms.

"So, next we've got to decide on a location. Is there anywhere we know of that would work as a safe location for us to all live for a while?" Cameron asked, leaning forward.

Kelvin added on, "Any part of the country is relatively convenient for us. Fearless leader can take us wherever we need to go from wherever you need to be."

"Please, feel free to use me as a pack mule. I don't mind. It's really no bother." Wally muttered sarcastically, resigned to his fate.

Garfield grinned at him, one canine longer than the rest of his teeth, "You're the one who circumnavigates the world as a warm up run!" Wally's cheeks heated as the Team turned to stare at him incredulously. So what? Sue him if he could run fast enough that going around the entire world is the best way to get an actual work out.

"Anyways," Wally said acidly, sending Garfield a glare that the green kid just grinned at blissfully, "Whatever location works for you should work for us. If it's necessary, we can buy a property near where you want and use that, or you guys can offer a location you already have. The choice is up to you."

Aqualad glanced around the group before asking politely, "May we take a break to contact our mentors and try to find a location?"

"Of course." Wally said, gesturing towards the door. The Team stood up and left, a few of them leaving with friendly waves. Wally deflated the moment he heard the front door close, "This is so  _boring_."

Jinx muttered rebelliously, "At least you're not the one transcribing it."

"That hardly counts. It's like flexing your arm for you to do that." Cameron sneered. The two immediately moved into a glaring match.

Dinah rolled her eyes, but looked at Wally, "I'm starting to get nervous with the questions that they're asking. They're not all that afraid of asking whatever they want. So far, we haven't refused to answer a question, but something like that is going to come up soon. I can't imagine that Artemis would take it very well if we did."

"Screw her." Cameron said passionately, a frown tugging the corners of his lips down, "I don't get what her problem is! The rest of her merry crew of meta-haters can at least keep their opinion to themselves long enough to be professional, but she can't even manage that much. What should we care if she doesn't like the fact that we're protecting ourselves and our people from her kind?"

"Icicle!" Wally barked, eyes darkening and cold, "Cool down. This isn't about 'her kind' versus ours. This is about the Light. Any sort of aggressiveness does nothing but let the Light win. We can't let ourselves think about that at the moment. Okay?" His voice had softened immediately after he'd seen Cameron's shoulders rise in an effort to make himself seem smaller. Wally sighed and ran a hand over his face, "Sorry, Icicle. I just… this is important. We've got an operative in there. We agreed on this and we agreed to remain civil. I didn't mean to snap, but her attitude is stressing me out too."

Cameron closed his eyes, passing a hand over his face, "I know. And I'm sorry. It just makes me so mad that she gets to act like that and  _I_  have to behave. She's just one of those people who thinks that they have all the information and they act all high and mighty because of it. I bet she's one of those people who thinks that the camps are actually  _helping_  us. I hate having to be the bigger man, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." Wally sent him a little grin, "But you're great at it."

"Flattery will get you nowhere." Cameron grinned back, a little wider, but also a little more forced than Wally's had been.

Harold blinked at them, "It's simultaneously terrifying and amazing to see you two fight. It's terrifying because you two never fight and it's weird seeing you do it when you're like, our  _rocks_  or something. It's amazing because you somehow always resolve your fights within five minutes. I've literally never seen you fight for longer than that."

"It's Stockholm Syndrome. I've molded our fearless leader to my ideals." Cameron announced.

"You've  _what_? And what Stockholm Syndrome? You've never kidnapped me." Wally said, genuinely curious at to where Cameron was getting that comparison.

Cameron raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth. He closed it and then opened it again, "I admit defeat. I actually can't back that one up." Wally snorted.

He was about to say something, but there was a heavy sound of the door opening and footsteps trooping through the doorway. The Team had returned.


	4. Working It Out

DDDDDD

Dick had more than a little to think about as the Team filed outside to contact their mentors. He hadn't necessarily underestimated the Circus. They had just blown apart every expectation that he could have had of them. Their first and second in command being kids? Not even a consideration. The strength and possibilities of the abilities of the three members who had shown their powers? Unprecedented. Their calm and even keeled temper? Definitely not expected. That was not how metas were supposed to act. At all.

Their leader, Supersonic, was definitely intelligent and the control he had over his group was quite frankly impressive. It was obvious that they had discussed tons of different options before this whole thing even started and that he knew what his team's opinion would be on any topic because he never even consulted them, and they didn't seem at all shocked at the calls he made. The kind of foresight and understanding of superhero alliances that would be necessary to predict all portions of the alliance that had been suggested in so far was unbelievable. All in all, Dick found himself impressed.

It seemed that the rest of the group was impressed as well. Even Artemis seemed grudgingly impressed and Dick could admit that it was for a good reason. He was just as shocked as the rest of the Team when Supersonic applauded Artemis's rude questions instead of getting upset at them. Another contradiction to the normal image of metahumans.

Kaldur's calm voice broke Dick out of his reverie, "Robin, may you please make contact with the League?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure thing!" Dick started tapping at his arm computer, pulling up a large holographic and pressing the few buttons necessary to call the League. There was a waiting symbol on the screen as they waited for the League to accept the call.

After a moment of waiting, the council room of the Watchtower filled the holographic, Batman sitting front and center, "Report."

Dick immediately straightened at the tone of voice, but it was Kaldur who answered, as leader, "The initial meeting place was disturbed by Ra's al Ghul's assassins. The Circus allowed us to reconvene in one of their safehouses. We have been discussing the terms of our alliance. So far, it has been decided that we shall operate under a joint leadership between myself and their leader, Supersonic. We have also agreed that we shall both operate out of a common headquarters for the duration of our alliance. We were allowed this short break in order to contact you in order to find a location that would be optimal for our joint accommodations."

Batman shared a look with Superman, waiting for a nod before he spoke, "There is a location that could work. Do you remember the headquarters of the Injustice League in Bayou Bartholomew? We have been refashioning it into a potential place of operations should the Watchtower be compromised. It has a zeta beam and enough room for the bioship and places for all of you to sleep. There is a functional kitchen, training room, and control room. It should fit your needs. The Circus cannot be allowed access to the zeta beam, though."

Dick grimaced, "They have an  _alternate_  method of transport."

"What do you mean?" Batman growled.

Roy responded, "Their leader? Supersonic? The kid can run faster than anything I've ever seen. I'd be he could beat you, Superman, in a race. That's how they get around from place to place. He runs people one or two at a time."

"Kid?" Green Arrow asked sharply, "I'm sorry, but did you just say that a  _kid_ was the leader of the Circus?"

"There are six teenagers and two adults in the Circus that we've met. Apparently, there is one other, but that one is currently undercover in the Light. Two of the teenagers are the first and second in command. According to them, Supersonic was the one who came up with the plan for all of them to run away from the camp they were in and he was planning on running the Circus completely by himself, so they decided they would join him and have him be leader. I don't know why Icicle is second in command, though." Artemis responded. Her voice was surprisingly even-tempered and unaccusatory. Dick and Roy both glanced over at her in shock at the same time.

Green Arrow's expression was pinched when he said, "I actually cannot comprehend that."

"Not surprising," Roy sneered. A muscle ticked in Green Arrow's jaw, but he refrained from getting into a fight at that moment. Dick rolled his eyes.

Batman pulled the conversation back to where it was supposed to be, "Give me a rundown on their abilities."

"We haven't seen all of them, but we've seen a good number of them. Supersonic, the leader, has some sort of super speed. Icicle, the second in command, is physically made of ice, but he's refrained from using abilities at the moment. Changeling, who acted as looked out, has changed from a bird to a human to a mouse and back to a human in the time we've met him, so I would guess that his powers involved changing into any animal. Firehawk, who was the face of the group, can transform from a normal looking teenaged girl to a… a creature with wings and fire for hair who can throw fire. Ballistic hasn't displayed any powers, but he has very thick looking red skin and he has horns and a lot of weapons and he's massive. Black Canary hasn't displayed any powers. Maser hasn't displayed any powers. Jinx was able to move earth and can move a pen across paper without even looking at it." Dick answered easily, having already compiled the list in his head, anticipating his mentor's questions.

Batman's expression was sharp and piercing even under the cowl and Dick knew that the two of them would be talking it over in more depth later. Wonder Woman frowned, "And their behavior? Have they been overly hostile?"

The Team glanced at each other, not sure how to answer the question. Kaldur haltingly explained, "They have been nothing but cordial and accommodating. When… certain members of our own Team acted rudely, they were unfazed and simply encouraged our questions and concerns, claiming that blunt honesty and forward questions were welcomed. Firehawk seems to be the most hesitant to trust us and Jinx seems to have the strongest disdainful attitude, but that is directed towards her own teammates as often as it is directed towards us."

Wonder Woman's frown deepened, "That is very… odd for a group of metahumans."

"You said earlier that they had a spy in the Light, right? What's that person's deal?" Green Lantern asked, lounging back in his chair.

"They haven't told us anything about them. Not even a gender." Zatanna offered.

Green Arrow's brow furrowed, "That's going to have to change. I mean, how can you fight against the Light without even knowing which member to look out for?" Aqualad nodded to him in agreeance.

Nodding sharply, Batman signed off with, "We will contact you for more information later." He didn't even give them a chance to respond. Dick sighed, not really all that surprised.

Artemis scowled, "I'm glad that Batman didn't turn you into a brooding, rude hero, Robin."

Dick laughed, "Me too."

Kaldur gave them a rare smile before gesturing back towards the rather nice two-story house that the Circus was using as a safe house. Raquel glanced up at it, tilting her head to the side in confusion, "They said they've got several safe houses across the country, right? How do you suppose they afford all that? I mean, sure, a house out here in the middle of nowhere has got to be relatively cheap, but still. You know that the accounts of adult metas are frozen as soon as they're put into camps and are monitored if they escape, so they obviously aren't using money from the two adults. The kids would be in the same situation. So, where does the money come from?"

"They probably steal it," Artemis said, scowling, "What would they care about stealing from a few humans?"

" _Or_  they could have rich metahuman or human benefactors. You know that there are some humans who are super sympathetic to the cause of metahumans and would do stuff like donate a ton of money." Roy threw back, scowling just as fiercely.

Dick rolled his eyes, "I'll look into the rich people of the world and see if I can find something that would match a possible benefactor. Yay, homework for tonight."

"I'm not as good at it, but I'll join you." Roy responded, giving Dick a significant look that Dick knew to mean they were going to talk. Kaldur threw him that same look. Dick wanted to roll his eyes again. Set up in a new hideout. Research all the rich people in the world. Have serious conversation. Apparently, don't sleep. Fantastic.

The Team trudged back into the safe house, closing the door and making their way to the dining room. They sat back in the seats they had been in before. The Circus was staring at them, as polite as staring at someone could be. Icicle's shoulders were curled in just the slightest bit, not noticeable to others, but plenty obvious to someone like Dick. His smile was forced when he aimed one at the incoming Team members. Supersonic's perpetual frown seemed deeper than it had before they'd left, a slightly hurt set to his chin. Dick asked mentally,  _Superboy, do you know what they were talking about? Icicle and Supersonic seem more stressed out and upset than they were when we left._

Superboy sent a mental shake of a head back,  _The whole house is soundproofed. They couldn't hear us, but I couldn't hear them either._

 _It seems like Icicle and Supersonic had an argument,_  Zatanna commented, frowning slightly. Dick frowned too, agreeing. He wondered what they argued about. Was the Circus not as coherent on their opinions of the leader's decisions as it had seemed? Were they that good at hiding their feelings? Or was it something else? Dick wanted to know what they were talking about.

 _Should we just ask them about it?_  M'gann sent out.

Roy raised his eyebrows,  _That seems a little personal, don't you think?_

 _I mean, they did say we could ask them anything_ , Raquel sent back with a mental shrug.

Kaldur shut down the conversation with,  _I agree with Red Arrow. They had given us free reign, but we should not abuse it this early in the alliance._  The Team all sent back mental nods to show that they understood.

Supersonic's voice washed over them, "Have you found a location?"

"Yes," Kaldur answered immediately, "We can give you the exact coordinates after the meeting, but it is in Bayou Bartholomew."

"Out of curiosity, why this location? You don't have to answer, but I'm just wondering," Ballistic asked, leaning back in his chair and cutting an imposing figure. The image was dampened by the easy smile on his large face.

After a second of pause, Roy responded, "It's already got a zeta beam installed. That's what we use to get from one place to the next easily. Since we've all got civilian identities, we need to be able to get from whatever city we typically reside in to our HQ relatively quickly. Zeta beams make that happen."

The Team members shifted uncomfortably, anticipating questions about the zeta beams and the possibility of the Circus using them. They didn't want to have to shoot them down. Supersonic, once again, surprised them by scowling and saying, "Wait, so you have to put one of those things in every single place you want to be able to go? That sounds so inconvenient. And how would that even work? It sounds like you'd be, like, disassembled and then reassembled on the other side. Or are you opening some sort of portal every time that happens? Disassembling yourself sounds like trash, but opening a portal and, eventually, tearing space in that location sounds even worse. Or is there some sort of transport procedure that you've been able to create? I don't even want to know. Running is faster."

"Whoa," Maser said, turning slightly in his chair to give his leader an incredulous glance, "I'm sorry, did you just insult the sanctity of disassembling oneself in the name of transport? If so, then I am horribly offended."

Zatanna interrupted before Supersonic could say anything, "Wait, you can do what now?"

"Ah," Icicle chuckled, scratching the back of his head, "I think that should be our next order of business. We can't really work all that well together if we don't know what abilities we have."

Supersonic grimaced, "Obviously, we know a good portion of what you guys can do. Enough of your fights – your individual, per city fights – are televised that really anyone can study your fighting patterns and abilities." Dick glanced around his teammates in alarm. No one they had faced off against had seemed to use that against them, but it was completely true. Their everything was displayed on television, from strengths to weaknesses to quirks. That should probably be addressed. Supersonic continued, "Therefore, you only really need to know about our powers. We're definitely not thrilled with the idea of giving you this much of an advantage, but it's necessary to be able to fight together and create legitimate strategies. I guess I'll start. I serve as the leader. I'm a speedster. I run really fast. I heal really fast. I think really fast. I can do all related things that come from having control over the speed of each of your molecules."

Artemis's mouth twitched, so Dick sent to her,  _Don't fight this. It's asking them a lot to share that much._

Artemis scowled back at him,  _I don't think he could have been less informative if he'd have tried._

 _Robin's right. He's given us hints and we'll learn more when we train and fight with them_ , Raquel added. Artemis's scowl deepened, but she didn't say anything.

Icicle spoke up next, looking physically pained as he spoke, "I'm the second in command and I'm the networking guy. As you can see, I can turn myself into ice. I have cryokinesis. That's about it."

Black Canary smiled at her leaders and turned to face the Team, "I'm in charge of hand to hand training. I've got a… canary cry. Basically, I scream  _really_  loudly." Zatanna raised her eyebrows, obviously confused as to how that could be a superpower. Dick secretly agreed. How loud would you have to scream for that to be useful.

Roy frowned, "Wouldn't that just be detrimental to your teammates?"

"We've got earbuds that specifically filter her Canary Cry. We can outfit you with some of those. I'm the tech guy, by the way. I can transmute into or ride on energy waves and I can fly at superhuman speeds." Maser answered, already pulling out a tablet. Dick could see specs on the earbuds on the screen. He was going to have to scan those for trackers.

Beast Boy raised his hand excitedly, "Me next! I'm the tracker! I can turn into any animal I've seen or heard of. Including dinosaurs! They're all green, which is kind of inconvenient for camouflage, but it still works." His eyes were bright and happy, snaggle tooth peaking out over his lower lip.

Firehawk was significantly calmer when she said, "I'm, as you saw, the political negotiator. I'm, well, a Firehawk. You saw pretty much what I can do." The Team nodded in response.

After a second's pause, Jinx sighed and said, "I'm the magic  _expert_. I can do magic – not the same as Zatanna's, that's something more than I could do – and I can do energy projection. Pyrokinesis, flight, geokinesis, telekinesis. That." Dick stared at the slim girl in front of him with surprise. He would definitely need to not underestimate someone by their size.

"What about your spy?" Artemis asked, eyes sharp under her cowl. The Team turned to face Supersonic, curious as well.

His expression darkened, "That, I'm afraid, I can't answer."

"Why not?" Artemis demanded.

Supersonic scowled, "I will not risk our spy's life. We've already seen that there's a leak somewhere as evidenced by the fiasco in the field we met in. I'm not going to let it get back to the Light who the spy is. I've already risked enough by telling you that we have a spy in the first place."

Artemis shook her head, "And if we go against the Light and we don't know who the spy is? We could compromise their location. We could make them fail, make them lose credibility and therefore influence. Without knowing who they are, we could easily jeopardize their place in the Light and their life."

"Or I could assign them the death penalty. This information is not on the table. Until you can  _prove_  that there is no mole, no leak on your team, you do not get to know who the spy is. If you continue to push this, the alliance is forfeit. That's how serious I am." Supersonic answered, voice hard steel like they hadn't heard it before. It was obvious to see that he'd been easy-going and calm before. Now, there was an angry leader, being provoked. His protective side was being activated and he was not amused by that. Almost subconsciously, the speedster's movements minimized, and his breathing calmed, all in preparation for a fight.

Dick intervened before the moment could escalate any further, "We totally understand that. You have legitimate reasons. We don't want to push you into revealing anything. Even if you don't believe that we want your spy to be safe, you can at least believe that we want your information source to remain. Artemis has a legitimate concern. Without foreknowledge of who the spy is, we could inadvertently harm them. We don't want to hurt your spy anymore than you do."

"That's not how being a spy works." Supersonic frowned, sounding slightly calmer even though the edge of steel was still there, "You have to be able to treat the spy like they're an actual member of the Light. If you can't fight against them with full strength, someone will notice. The members of the Light are intelligent. They'll figure something out. Besides, I know you don't know the person we've got on the inside, but I think you're doubting their abilities a little bit. We wouldn't put them undercover if we thought they couldn't hold their own. And that spy is the one we use most often as an undercover agent." His voice had lost the steel by the end, going back to the slightly amused, definitely stressed, slightly wary tone of voice he'd used through the rest of the meeting.

Kaldur smiled amicably, trying to get the meeting back on track, "I would be interested in meeting someone whose abilities you call formidable. With the force you have backing you, I cannot imagine the power of your spy."

"Yeah, they're really something." Supersonic smiled softly. After a second, he shook his head, "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to snap. I don't like being backed into a corner when one of my teammate's lives is on the line."

"It is completely understandable," Kaldur assured him. Supersonic and Icicle made significant eye contact, but Dick couldn't ascertain what it meant.

Black Canary broke through the tense silence that had settled over the room, "Is there anything else that needs to be discussed? We are working under a joint leadership. We will be based at a location in Bayou Bartholomew. We know each other's powers. The spy will remain anonymous. Anything else?"

Dick was about to shake his head before he had an idea, "You guys do know that we work under members of the League, right? Batman assigns us missions while Red Tornado and Wonder Woman act as supervisors in our main headquarters. The League is going to want to have that same supervision and the same process to go through missions. Are you good with that?"

He watched as Supersonic grimaced, "You  _what_? What's the point of having your own team if you are basically led by someone else. Isn't that the same as splitting up one team? Alpha group and beta group kind of thing. I was under the impression that you were your own team."

"Well, we are just kids." M'gann started.

Icicle, frowning just as much as Supersonic, interrupted her, "So are we! Kids can make decisions just as well as adults. You're heroes. It's almost a requirement for a superhero to have an awful past. That's going to make your mature beyond your years. So, what's the point of having an extra layer of command? That's unnecessary and confusing and just overcomplicates things. It's like the League is creating a bureaucracy! You shouldn't have red tape on a superhero team!"

Dick and the rest of the Team stared at the Circus members in confusion. They were articulating everything that the Team had been trying to communicate to their mentors for months. It was incredible that a team that had met them mere hours ago could grasp that where their mentors couldn't. It really was amazing what parental feeling could block out.

Raquel shook her head in shock, "Remind me again how the adults of the Circus are okay with this."

Black Canary smiled softly at them, "Like we mentioned earlier, the two of us certainly couldn't keep this crazy lot in line. But, I guess… I mean… they face the world with a different view. Supersonic and Icicle, specifically have a very serious outlook and incredibly sharp minds that are very well suited towards not only leading us, but working together. The two of them almost seem to share a mind and that's pretty helpful for a first and second in command."

Ballistic nodded along with her, "Besides, my personal belief is that Supersonic's powers aren't just superspeed. I think he's got some sort of glue power. The power to glue a group of misfits together." Supersonic rolled his eyes and made a face in the background.

Shaking his head and trying to hide a smile, Kaldur brought the conversation back on track, "Nevertheless, the way our group is organized will remain for the foreseeable future. Is this acceptable to the Circus?"

Supersonic's lips tightened. He left his fingers pressed against the table, head tilted downwards. The rest of the Circus watched him think, glancing between each other. Dick saw Black Canary subtly shift her head to the side in a questioning glance. Icicle subtly responded with a small shrug. This, from what Dick could read of their interactions, was the first time that the Circus was going to have to go completely off of what their leader decided.

As much as Dick wished that the Team was a completely separate identity that could act with at least a little bit more independence, he was momentarily grateful for the control because this way he could see how the Circus would react when surprised and pressured. It was gratifying to know that something of their organization and abilities was hidden from prying eyes. It had been somewhat of a disturbance to realize how much the Circus knew about them.

Frowning deepening, Supersonic lifted his head, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck and sighing, "That is acceptable to the Circus." The room relaxed, both teams settling back in their seats now that the big decisions were over with. There would be little things that they needed to iron out, but, for now, they had created a working agreement.

Dick relaxed, too. He was more than relieved that everything was able to be worked out. He was still a little miffed about the fact that the Circus wasn't going to tell the Team any more information about their spy, but he understood. It was obvious how worried Supersonic was about all of his members, but especially about the one who was in enemy territory.

There was some tenseness with the fact among the rest of the team. Dick wondered how happy the Circus was that their member was stuck in an organization as large and influential as the Light. Frowning, Dick asked into the silence, "Why are you going after the Light at all? Their members are mainly human, and their interests don't seem to go exactly against anything that you have formerly stood for. But you thought they were important enough to send a spy into them. You thought they were enough of a threat to team up with superheroes."

Firehawk's lips twitched up a little bit, "Oh come on. Who can really claim to have any clue what the Light's interests are? They're all over the place and our spy isn't high enough to get the full plan. No one but the main council has an idea about what their plans are. Supersonic started looking into them because of their recent increase in meta members. Apparently, they've gotten something like thirty new metas in the past two months. That's worrisome enough for us."

Dick nodded, the rest of the Team nodding with him. It was legitimate reasoning. It was also worrying information.

Whatever. The Team and the Circus would work together through it. The team-up was going to be complicated and there were going to be problems and misunderstandings, but they could do it. They were finally going to beat the Light.


	5. Preparing to Start

WWWWWW

Wally's fist, which had been previously on a fast track to Dinah's face, was grabbed tightly and twisted, sending him toppling to the floor. Anticipating the move, however, he'd started rolling immediately after hitting the ground, pulling his still captive fist – and the one holding it – behind him. Dinah was surprised by the move and ended up being pulled over, off her balance. She twisted as she fell, though, landing knees down straight on Wally's chest.

Coughing with shock (and pain, a lot of pain), Wally regretted his life decisions. He really should have seen that coming. Dinah accentuated her move with a flip off of him and an extra kick to his ribs that he barely dodged out of the way of. He rolled across the floor as far as he could, so he had a little space to stand up while Dinah went after him.

Sweat trickled down the sides of his head, tickling his ear for a moment. His eye twitched, but he let it go. That momentary distraction would not be worth the pummeling he'd get for not paying attention to his opponent. The two circled each other warily, watching the moves and step patterns of the others, analyzing their current fighting potential, cautiously waiting for the next movement. Wally, always impatient though he tried not to be, was the first one to move, striking out with a lunging kick that was easily blocked. He morphed into something else immediately afterwards, leaning his upper body to the side as he fell from the kick. His left leg came swinging up behind him as his hands reached for the floor. His foot made hard contact with Dinah's shoulder, startling both of them. Wally hadn't expected that to hit.

The connection of his hit distracted Wally to the point that he missed his landing, hand twisting painfully under him as he fell into a graceless somersault. He sprung back up again, but his hand was definitely injured in some way or another and basically useless at this point. Wrinkling his nose, Wally and Dinah started their circling again. It was Wally who struck first again, focusing on his strong hand and aiming a few viper-quick lashes at her torso. She was faster, blocking them and sending a volley of her own back at him. Cursing under his breath, Wally struggled into a faster paced battle, trying to find an edge. There wasn't any to find, though. He was fighting with one hand and she had  _years_  of experience over him.

It wasn't long before she delivered a heel strike to his chest, sending him flying back and knocking the wind out of him all at once. Dinah slid over to him and lightly pressed two fingers against one of his pressure point, one of the ones that would incapacitate him. The threat was obvious. If this had been a real fight, she would have been able to push that little biological button and kill him when he wasn't able to fight back.

Smacking his head back against the ground, Wally groaned, "I yield! I yield."

Smiling, Dinah helped him up, fingers ghosting over his injured hand. Out of habit, he yanked it out of her grip and clutched it close to himself. Only the fact that she understood and would have probably done the same thing is what kept Dinah from being offended. She nodded towards the benches off to the sides of the rooms, "Get on out of the ring and go heal."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going." Wally started heading out of the field before he turned slightly and called back, "Good fight!"

Dinah called back, "You won't be thinking that when I give you your assessment of everything you did wrong!"

Wally rolled his eyes and sat cautiously down on the bench. The way they'd set up the training room in the Circus's main headquarters was putting a metahuman power blocker over the actual training ring. It could be turned on or off based on what they wanted to do. The rest of the training room allowed the metas to use their full powers. That meant that Wally didn't have his increased healing in the training ring, but he could step outside it and allow his healing to steadily fix whatever had been damaged with a fight with Dinah.

Cameron patted him on the back, cringing slightly when he realized it came back slightly damp, "You lasted pretty long today, man."

Wally frowned, "That's because Dinah's distracted. She's definitely not fighting up to her normal standards. That hit on her shoulder would have never landed on a normal day." He watched Dinah as she cracked her neck, toweling off her shoulders and upper chest area before reaching for a glass of water. She was taking a few minutes to cool down before starting her next fight.

Although it was good training for her to have to do continuous fights like this, it was hard on her. Since she was the hand-to-hand expert, she typically trained the rest of the group. They arranged it so it was easier on everyone. She had her harder fights first so the people who were weaker went against a weaker Dinah and were able to grow more without just being repeatedly pummeled. Wally was usually in the middle, typically after Kelvin and Cameron. Garfield and Jinx went after him. Wally and Lorraine would normally switch spots as to who went first. They were relatively equal in strength.

Cameron's voice broke him out of his reverie, "You've got that look on your face that says that you're analyzing our movements and picking out the best way to torture us by making us work on our weaknesses."

That startled a laugh out of Wally, "What? No, no. I'm just thinking about our usual routine. I'm worried about Dinah's distraction. I'm worried about what kind of living changes we'll have to get used to. We've only been doing this for a year. With a group as large as we have, all living together, that's not a lot of time. We've only just now started to really mesh the right way. We all have our problems and those problems were just made worse by the fact that we were surrounded by people we didn't know. I mean, you and I knew each other. Jinx and Lorraine recognized each other's faces because their beds were close in their barracks. That's it. Now? We're going to go live with an entirely new group. More people with more problems. And there's already tension there. Tension that's going to make the problems worse than they are. And when we do go back to doing our own thing, we'll have to relearn how to be just us again because we didn't really have enough of a foundation to go back to."

"Well, to most of that, all I can say is that we'll deal with it as it goes. We might not have been together long, but we've made this past year count and we'll all back each other up. We're family and that's going to mean something. As for Dinah's distraction… we're all distracted, Wally. This is a mess. It's going to get worse. We're worried about our spy." Cameron responded, putting a comforting hand on Wally's shoulder. Wally let it stay for a little longer than he would with most people, but ended up shrugging it off. Cameron obviously didn't let it bother him.

"I know, Cam. But that's you, not me. You're always, let's just cross that bridge when we get to it. I overthink things." Wally shook his head, "But you're right. I just need to let this go for the moment. I'm doing all I can right now which is getting everyone to train to get their minds off of things while we wait for the right time to move into the new place. I'm a little concerned with the fact that the Team is getting the majority of a day to set up and put whatever kind of tricks they want to in there, but I understand. They can't have us seeing how the zeta beams work and they want to check in with their mentors without having to crowd us with heroes on our first day. It just…" Wally shook his head again, "This is ridiculous. Everything's fine."

When he looked over, Cameron was watching him in amusement. Wally rolled his eyes and shoved at Cameron's shoulder. Cameron laughed and the two of them turned to watch the fight currently going on. Dinah was facing against Lorraine at the moment, the two already having worked up a sweat in the time that Wally and Cameron had been talking.

Out of habit, Wally analyzed their movements, tucking it into the back of his mind to talk about with Dinah. Despite the fact that Wally's fighting experience came almost exclusively from Dinah's tutelage, he was good at taking the mistakes that Dinah found and turning them into activities for the group to work on. In his mind, a problem that one member had was a problem that all of them had.

Lorraine was holding her own pretty well. She'd always been better at fighting out her problems, pushing everything into some kind of order in her mind so each punch and kick would highlight a new issue and solve it. Training was the best kind of relaxation technique for her. As Wally watched, Dinah seemed to be losing some of her tension, too. Each graceful high kick and powerful flip was a little tighter, a little more well controlled as she stopped letting the Team distract her thoughts and instead focused on the fight in front of her.

On the other side of the room, Kelvin and Garfield were trying to outdo each other in lifting weights. Garfield was turning into increasingly ridiculous animals as he tried to pick up more. Kelvin was just laughing at him. Wally rolled his eyes; as long as Garfield didn't turn into anything large enough to break a wall, it was fine by him. They had a different room for that kind of thing.

Cameron leaned back and put his head against the wall, "This is all boring stuff."

Wally raised an eyebrow, leaning back with him, "Oh yeah? And what would be the interesting stuff?"

"Girls," Cameron answered simply. Wally snorted, but Cameron continued on, relentless, "No, I'm serious! Did you see all those babes on the Team? Like, is being mega hot a requirement to join? I mean, I'd totally be able to join if that were the case, but…"

Wally muttered under his breath, "Pretty sure you're the opposite of mega hot."

Cameron put a wounded hand to his chest, "How could you say something like that to me? I'm hurt. Devastated.  _Broken_  with  _despair_."

Giving him his best wide-eyed look, Wally responded as apologetically as he could, "But Cam! That's not what I meant! I only meant to say that your ice powers were the opposite of mega hot. It was merely a comment on your core body temperature and not your outward appearance."

Cameron was pretending to wipe away a tear when Jinx's voice caused the two of them to glance up at her, "Honestly. Moments like this make me wonder if the Team has the right idea in leadership."

Opening his mouth, Cameron put his hand on his chest again, ready to deliver his 'wounded' spiel again. Jinx rolled her eyes and pointed a finger at him, pink energy floating around it threateningly. Use to Jinx's usually casual threats, Wally only kept half an eye on the situation next to him. They both knew that Wally did not tolerate people using their powers against each other in harmful ways. He was okay with a harmless prank here or there (or everywhere based on the sheer concentration of teenagers who hadn't been able to be kids for a very long time) and they could use their power for other things or for training, but never to intentionally hurt each other. That didn't mean that it hadn't happened here or there. As he'd alluded to, tempers ran high during the first bit of time that they'd lived together, and it was hard to dispel the flight or fight instinct that had ruled their lives for however long they'd been in the camps.

Jinx's voice pulled him back from his analysis of Dinah's improved mood, "I want to talk to Zatanna."

Wally gave her a confused look, "You'll get plenty of time to talk to her. We're going to be living together. From what Aqualad told me, Superboy, Miss Martian, and Zatanna all live at their base, so she'll be there all the time."

He realized that was the wrong thing to say when Jinx's face made a peculiar expression (he only barely recognized it as vulnerability and a flash of genuine  _want_ ) before she made a dismissive hand wave and started to walk off. Wally half got up, calling out, "Jinx, wait!"

Cameron snorted from next to him, "Smooth, Wall-man. Real slick."

"I'd like to see you try," Wally grumbled, no real heat to his words as he got all the way up and followed Jinx over to the collection of boxes that she often used to test the finer points of her telekinesis, working boxes into other boxes and opening and closing them. He stopped just next to her and leaned up against a post, watching her pink light surround a box, moving it and messing with it, "Jinx, I'm sorry I misunderstood. Can you explain it to me?"

"Don't treat me like a little kid!" Jinx snapped, two spots of color darkening her cheeks.

"I'm not trying to," Wally explained calmly, "I'm talking like this because I don't know what's going on."

She fidgeted under his glance before sighing harshly, cheeks darkening further, "You know when we were explaining our powers to the Team? And I said that I knew magic, but not like Zatanna's. I can't do magic like hers. I  _want to_ , though. There's so much more that someone could do with magic like hers. I know that I'm supposed to be the magic expert on this team or whatever because I have knowledge of the occult and a general ability that often uses the same kind of technique as magic, but I don't really have magic. I'm a metahuman. I have metahuman abilities. I just thought… maybe if we talked about it, we'd be able to do something to figure out if I can do magic."

Wally tilted his head to the side, "I'm sure you can do magic."

"Not much point in getting all excited about it or hoping I can do it. It'll only lead to disappointment. I'm just doing this to prove to myself that I can't learn it." Jinx mumbled, shoulders coming up defensively.

Lips twisting into a small, sad frown, Wally pointed out, "It's not exactly like that, though. I'm sure you can do magic. Remember how I told you guys that I got my powers when a meta's powers went berserk. He was controlling the weather. The weather wasn't a part of the kid, it's a natural phenomenon. Just like magic is a natural phenomenon. My guess is that you're tapping into the magic of the world when you use your abilities. Theoretically, training with Zatanna should allow you to focus that pull and give it shape – which is where the increase in power would come from."

Looking thoughtful, Jinx opened and closed four different sized boxes at the same time, "You know, for someone who doesn't believe in magic, a lot of your thoughts make a lot of sense."

"Magic doesn't exist." Wally said flatly.

Jinx rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, giving up on the boxes and turning to face him, settling into an old and worn argument, "You literally just told me that I can learn magic!"

"You can learn what you  _believe to be_  magic." Wally agreed easily. As a teenage boy, it was a rule that he enjoyed working the girls of the team up. Jinx was the easiest to rile up, but she was also the most likely to cause property damage in the process, so it was a delicate game to frustrate her enough to be amusing, but not enough for people to start getting hurt.

Sighing out a gusty breath of air, Jinx stood firm, "If it's not magic, then what could it be? It's magic. There's literally nothing else it could be!"

"Science." Wally answered, continuing when she gave him an unimpressed glare, "This is just a scientific process. You're reacting to different electrical and chemical impulses in the earth. You're pulling on the kinetic and potential energy within each object and manipulating it. It's simple physics."

"You have seen me defy physics.  _You_  have defied physics with your powers!" Jinx threw back, hands waving in the air.

"I have entered into an extension of physics that has not yet been accurately explained by scientists. There is nothing I do that is unnatural or against Mother Nature's rules." Wally stated easily before tacking on, "And that goes the same for you. You aren't bending nature's rules or doing something that some deity or something grants you the ability to do based on a ritual you did to summon it. You're just clicking in with the impulses of the earth. That's it."

"And why can't that be called magic?" Jinx asked.

Wally scoffed incredulously, "What? It's already called science, that's why!"

"Working with the earth  _is_  part of  _magic_ , but there's also the moments where we go against the earth's natural pulls and do our own thing. Because  _magic_." Jinx explained, expression lighting up just the tiniest amount as she tried to explain the thing she loved.

Wally didn't really think he would ever believe in magic. Maybe it was the part of him that liked to be in charge – the idea that magic could act against the very fabric of the earth was unnerving because there would be no way to counteract it, no way to discover its workings and take control. Maybe it was the part of him that was disillusioned with childhood things – there was no deity, no magic, no little fairy that came and saved him when he needed it. Maybe it was the scientist in him – nothing is not science, there are just some things that the scientists haven't quite gotten around to explaining yet. No matter what part of him – or a mix of those three – was responsible for his disbelief in magic, he was relatively certain that it wouldn't be going away.

Dinah's voice washed over the room, "If Jinx isn't in this ring in less than a minute, I'm going out of here and getting her  _myself_."

"Oh man," Wally said, letting out a small, momentary smile, "You've made the Canary angry. Better get up there before we all get hurt." Jinx rolled her eyes at him, but started towards the middle of the room where Dinah was leaning against a side of the training ring. After a moment's pause, Wally called out to Jinx's retreating form, "Hey, Jinx. I'll talk to Aqualad, and maybe Zatanna too. I'll see what I can arrange. Give me a few days, though, to get everyone settled in, okay? And… thanks for coming to me with this." She didn't respond or even turn to acknowledge his response, but she was still lightly blushing, and her moves were lighter, brighter, when she started sparring with Dinah.

Exhausted because dealing with emotions was harder than it should be, Wally went back over to where Cameron was still sitting, idly watching the fight in front of him. Wally sat back down next to him, watching Dinah's powerful strikes and Jinx's delicate evasions.

Cameron commented idly, "I'm glad they sat us next to each other on that Collection Agency bus."

Slightly worried by the words and the easy tone he'd said them in, Wally frowned, "Yeah, me too… You haven't brought that up in years."

"Yeah, well. I figured I should mention it again. You're my best friend." Cameron said, not looking at Wally, but voice fierce. After a second, he continued, obviously feeling Wally's confusion, "You said it yourself. We're about to do something new. Everything is going to change. Except not really. Not everything is going to change. No matter who walks into our lives and no matter who walks out, it's always going to be you and me. We'll always be those two eight-year-old kids who were sat next to each other on the bus. I'll always be the one who talks to you and tries to help you any way I can, and you'll always be the one who'll do something stupid to protect me. That won't ever change, okay?"

Expression serious (it almost always was, but Wally knew that Cameron would see the extra layer of seriousness, the  _feeling_  that he was trying to put into his expression), Wally nodded, "I know it won't. If there's one thing in this world I believe in, it's the two of us."

Cameron sagged a little with relief. Trying to ease the tension the same way Cameron always had for him, Wally jostled his friend's shoulder and said, "No more touchy-feely conversations today. I have a strict, once a day conversation. Lucky for you, I made an exception and allowed yours, but that's two touchy-feely conversations not only in one day, but in a half-hour time period. No more. Pretty sure I won't be able to take it."

Cameron snorted, "You're such a dork."

"Loser." Wally responded, actually going so far as to stick his tongue out.

Cameron gaped at him incredulously, " _I'm_  the loser?  _You're_  the one who just stuck his tongue out at me!"

Wally gave a small laugh, something that normally only happened around Cameron. He gave Cameron a small smile before glancing back at the training ring. Jinx and Dinah's fight had just worn down and they were both panting with the exertion of the day. Kelvin called from the other side of the room, "What's next fearless leader?"

Expression smoothing out and a warm spot settling into his chest, just over his heart, Wally called back, "Let's head over to the group training room. We'll do one last group exercise and then we'll start getting our stuff together. Let's go!"


	6. The New Place

DDDDDD

Dick eyed their new headquarters with interest. During the fight against the Injustice League, he had catalogued the location's escape routes and threatening features, but he hadn't really gotten a good feel for the place, or a real understanding of it's sheer size. The building was  _massive_ without Poison Ivy's giant plan inside of it.

The building had been sectioned off into smaller rooms. There was more transparency in this place than there was in the Cave. The Cave was full of hard rock walls and twists and turns throughout the entire mountain wherever it was easiest to tunnel through the unyielding rock. This was a collection of pale walls interspersed with large spans of clear window. There was a darker corner in the back where the living quarters were all boxed in together, no bright, airy windows opening the area up. There was a clear divide between where the metahumans' rooms were and where the Team's rooms were, separated by a few empty rooms that were being reserved on the off chance that there were more Circus members or if Justice League members needed to stay behind.

The layout was completely different from the Cave, too, probably to prevent a person from looking at this layout and being able to navigate the Cave was well. It meant that the Team was going to get lost in there as often as the Circus members, but that was okay. It was worth it to keep it protected.

There was a sublevel, too. A lot of the more sensitive rooms were in the basement, which had the ability to be cut off from the rest of the building in case someone got in. There was the control room and a conference room down there. A collection of computers was in one room and a huge monitor made for direct contact with the League filled up another room. It certainly wasn't the home that the Cave was, but it wasn't bad either. It would be good enough for however long they needed to stay here.

Hopefully, it wasn't long. Dick knew that a group like the Light wasn't going to be easy to take down. Even when they manage to take down the core group (made of heavy hitters that were going to be nearly impossible to take down when they were working together), they would still have to dismantle the lower regions of the organization, find all of their locations, capture and detain the lackeys. Depending on how organized the rest of the organization is, it could take months to capture the lower levels. Hopefully (although doubtful based on the leadership), there would be a lack of organization further down and the Team and Circus could get this wrapped up quickly.

Glancing up at the sound of his alter ego's name being called, Dick saw that the Justice League were arriving through the zeta beams at that moment.

The two teams faced each other, children on one side and adults on the other. Superman spoke first, stopped near the back of the group, resolutely faced away from Conner, "This will be your new headquarters. It has all the same abilities of your last headquarters and almost as much security. You will need to be more cautious about this location and the knowledge of it's location as this  _is_  less secure. We were not able to outfit it as completely as Mount Justice." His voice and diction were terser than usual, stiffness in his expression and muscles.

It made the rest of the people in the room just as tense, glances falling between Conner and Superman. Conner's shoulders were tensed up, gaze hard on the floor as he waited for Superman to leave. It was painful watching the hope that would light up Conner's face whenever Superman entered the room or was even mentioned. It was even more painful watching the hope slide away when Superman ignored him and turned away from his clone.

Batman picked up the speech, "Keep us informed about the actions of the Circus. As it stands now, they are to be considered allies, but they are  _not_  to be trusted. The primary objective is to dismantle the Light and stop their plan. The secondary objective is to learn more about the Circus. They are an unknown. In the past twenty-four hours, you have learned more about the Circus than most have learned in the year that they have been active. The Circus is dangerous and should be treated as such. You are our covert ops team and you should act like it. As it stands now, the Circus is considered a terrorist organization by the government. It would be better for everyone if knowledge of your alliance with them stayed as secret as the majority of your actions. Am I understood?"

The Team nodded as one. Dick fidgeted slightly, thinking about his mentor's words. It disturbed him that they knew so little about the Circus. With Batman's interest in the group and their generally explosive battles, it shouldn't be so difficult to find out more about them. How was it that they stayed so hidden, so unknown when they had a teenager for a leader? For a second in command? Dick had already started his search into the possible identities of the benefactors that were working with the Circus, but he hadn't been able to really get into the search with just his hand held.

How could these benefactors be hiding so well? Dick knew that there had been missions that ended up with the Circus taking people – presumably metahumans – but there was no sign of those people. They never turned back up, but they weren't among the Circus members. Where did those people go? How does the Circus hide them? There were too many questions and Dick wasn't sure that any of them were going to be answered. They knew now that there were some questions that the Circus was willing to refuse to answer so there was a chance that a lot of the things that Dick wanted to know would follow the same pattern.

Wonder Woman spoke next, "For the next week, while you get settled into your new headquarters and the Circus joins you, Red Tornado will be the only one here. He will work to be as unobtrusive as possible, but he will be here. I will come back to continue with our training schedule after that one week. I expect you to keep up the training as much as you can in the time that I will be gone. If it becomes relevant, please try to get me a training plan from the Circus. In order to aid in the alliance of this group and your effectiveness on the field, it would be helpful for you to train together. I do not want you training together before I come back, though."

M'gann gave a little frown, "Would it not be better for us to train together before you were here? They seem skittish about the idea of adult heroes with us."

Wonder Woman bit the inside of her lip, thinking about the problem. Roy shrugged from where he was casually draped against the wall, "I'm an adult hero and they're used to me. I can watch them while they train together."

"Yeah, adult. Right." Green Arrow muttered from his spot, arms crossed defensively. The two glared at each other while Artemis rolled her eyes from the side. Dick personally agreed with her. The two male archers were always at each other's throat and no one was willing to step between them and help them calm down. It meant that their relationship (that was actually genuine; they really did love each other like father and son) was often volatile and filled with misunderstandings and charged air.

Roy sneered at him but refrained from saying anything. Thankfully.

Martian Manhunter broke the silence that had fallen over them, "You will receive missions as usual. It will be in your purview whether you bring members from the Circus with you or not. It would be useful to bring them with you on missions other than against the Light so as to train yourself to fight together, however, you will be doing covert operations for us and it might not be prudent to show them all that you discover on those missions. They will likely not allow you on their own missions."

The Team nodded again. Dick was getting bored. They  _knew_  this stuff. They didn't need it rehashed for them like they were children. A sharp glance from Batman told Dick that Bruce knew what he was thinking and did not approve. Dick frowned at him, but didn't say anything, straightening out and stilling.

Green Lantern was the last one to speak, "With the lack of security and the increase in outside threat from having a vigilante team living with you, we decided that you need another 'den mother' of sorts and I picked the short straw. I won't get in your way, but I'll be around as often as I can be in the time I've got."

Artemis's jaw clenched, but it was Zatanna who burst out, "We don't need another den mother! We can handle ourselves."

Something softened in Green Lantern's expression and his response was less sarcastic than it would have been on another day, " _I_  know that. Still, a little help can never hurt. I'm not trying to step on toes, I'm trying to help keep you safe."

Zatanna grit her teeth together but didn't say anything. Testing the mental waters, Dick realized that there was still a connection between them, opening their minds for communication. He sent out,  _GL's great, Zatanna. He'll be totally chill. Besides, the Guardians and various planets in the sector will keep him busy a lot of the time._

 _That doesn't mean I like it_ , Zatanna shot back, but the tension in her jaw did ease a little bit. The rest of the Team eased with her.

It wasn't easy being controlled like this when they knew they could do better. The Justice League had a lot more experience than them and it had a lot more power and resources, but that didn't have to mean anything. There was no reason that the Team couldn't be a covert ops team that operated with the League's resources by themselves. If the Team was given the same information as the League, there was no way that they wouldn't be able to figure out which missions needed to occur when. Sure, the League could be understandably concerned at first and make it so the Team had to run their missions by a League member before they attempted it, but that wouldn't have to last long. The League would only have to check their work for a little bit before they realized that the Team could handle it and they could let go of the reins.

That was one of the things that Bruce and Dick had argued about. Dick didn't understand why the League couldn't see how  _easy_  it would be to arrange something that would give the Team control while still maintaining that they were as safe as they could be while fighting the types of creeps they regularly fought. It was so maddeningly simple, and they  _just didn't see it_.

The types of excuses that the older heroes had given him were slightly understandable, but still frustrating. They had told them that it was harder to keep the Team unknown when they operated on their own, but the Circus themselves disproved that theory! They were completely unknown and completely hidden and they didn't even trade exclusively in covert operations! Why couldn't the Team be like that? Especially since they were going to have an alliance with the Circus and could get information on how they stay hidden. It would be  _so easy_. Dick doubted it was ever going to happen. He wondered bitterly what it would take for the League to stop treating them like little kids who don't have a clue.

Dick blinked as the Leaguers bade their farewell and the rest of the Team spread out in groups of two or three to explore their new home. Dick was shepherded away with Roy and Kaldur. He realized from his vague mental map that they were leading him to the sublevel, probably towards the computer room.

He was pushed into one of the chairs and Kaldur and Roy settled on either side of him, sitting there expectantly. Rolling his eyes, Dick pulled the computer keypad towards him. He would go ahead and go more in depth on his research into potential benefactors while they were talking at him. He would get  _something_  productive out of this.

Kaldur was the first to speak, "I believe I like Supersonic."

"Black Canary isn't half bad either. Same with Icicle." Roy mused.

Dick frowned as he started typing. He needed to isolate people who make large amounts of money and then people who  _spend_ a lot of money. That could involve partying, drugs, drink, material spending, charity spending, investors. Dick had zero clue how the Circus would  _get_  their money. They could masquerade as a drug dealer or a party business or a charity or some other type of business that would need a lot of investments. He didn't know how many investors there were, nor how much money the Circus even  _used_  which made this search almost impossible.

"I didn't really get as much of a feel for the other members. They were a lot quieter. I don't think Changeling even spoke at all other than to tell us his powers. Same with Jinx. I was surprised when Black Canary agreed with me, though. I wasn't expecting any of them to actually say they agreed with us. For all that they were accommodating and listened to us, nothing we said was really… our idea, was it? I mean, the closest we got to suggesting something they hadn't planned for was telling them that the Leaguers were going to be here a lot. Especially now that we've got Hal for a babysitter. Who even thought it would be a good idea to get him as a babysitter?" Roy ranted,

"As Dick has said, Hal will often be busy with his Green Lantern duties. He is an adept superhero and a formidable opponent. There is much we can learn from him." Kaldur responded evenly.

Roy grumbled, "The Circus won't like it. We only mentioned Batman, Red Tornado, and Wonder Woman. All of a sudden we're bringing in another superhero? They really won't like that."

"Can they be faulted? They have been hunted by the superheroes. They are called enemies of the law. The more superheroes that surround them, the warier they will be." Kaldur threw back.

"Exactly! Another reason why giving us  _another_  babysitter is stupid!" Roy threw his hands into the air in frustration.

Dick had narrowed the list down to… a lot. There were over 2,200 billionaires in the world. For all he knew, the Circus could have backing from other nations. Not every country was as strict about metahuman containment and rehabilitation, even though all countries had laws against them. Therefore, practically every royal family member with a fortune had to be considered. They all spent a lot and there were always rumors that various countries had covered up metahuman royalty in the past. The only royal that Dick could confidently cross off the list was Queen Bee. As a member of the Light, there was no way that she would be a supporting figure in the Circus. Besides, her entire country would crumble if it were to get out that she supported metahumans. Bialya had one of the strictest metahuman policies in the world. Queen Bee's brainwashing abilities and tight control over her political group would be dismantled and proven to be the work of her metahuman abilities and less-than-ethical actions.

"That is not what we came here to discuss." Kaldur stated firmly, "We decided that we were going to discuss the Circus and their members. We need to be prepared for when they come here later this afternoon."

Roy frowned, "I'm honestly not sure what I was expecting when we went out there to meet them. I already knew that if they were reaching out to us for help, then they weren't  _exactly_  like we imagined they'd be. I mean, no metahuman worth their salt would ever ask us for help based on what everyone thinks about them. Are they the exceptions? Are they the rule and we've only been meeting the exceptions? How does this work?"

Kaldur tilted his head to the side, "I do not believe that I have ever asked you what your opinion of metahumans is."

Roy scratched at his chin, "You know, not a lot of people have real defined opinions on metas. I mean, at first? It was such a big deal that  _everyone_  had opinions, but that was eight years ago when metas first started really coming out of the woodworks, or seven years ago when it became obvious that  _kids_  could become metas, or six years ago when America built the first meta camp. Now? What does anyone care? They're packed away in their little camps. To get into school and stay in school, you have to take yearly meta-gene detecting tests. Some high-end work places will require tests too, but not a lot because it's expensive for them. The metas that  _could_  be threats are taken care of by other metas. At this point, it's kind of a disregarded subject. Obviously, there are people that are still very opinionated either way, but most people just don't really care as long as it doesn't affect them. As for me? I'd say I'm one of them. I mean, I'm closer towards the 'dislike' side. I mean, dislike isn't the word I'm looking for. Metahumans are dangerous. They have powers that are plopped on them at completely random times. There is no chance for them to learn how to work their powers or to get used the responsibility of their powers. It's an impossible situation to stick someone. Could you imagine getting crazy powers out of the blue one day? And then just… only using it for good? It would be hard to do. And even if they decided that they were never going to use their powers to hurt anyone, it's not like they can really train it. No one else has these powers, so who's going to train them? They end up in a stressful situation and, next thing they know, their powers are going berserk and people are dead. In my opinion, I think the camps are doing the right thing by trying to find an antidote and keeping the metas away for the time being. At the same time, I think the  _Circus_  is doing the right thing by stopping the metas that slip through the cracks."

Dick hummed lightly to himself. That was something to cross off the list. About four years ago found every elementary school, middle school, high school, college, and military (along with a few other jobs) testing regularly for the meta-gene. Any of the people on his list who were in one of those places in that time frame were removed. At least, the ones in the countries that had instituted that practice, which was mainly the superpowers of the world. In the end, that only crossed off a couple hundred. That was still almost two thousand potential candidates. Dick resisted the urge to snicker when he saw names like Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen.

Others were relatively easy to cross off the list, too. Names like Ra's al Ghul, Lex Luthor, and Vandal Savage were all immediately removed due to their position on the Light. Dick couldn't discount other supervillains because he honestly wasn't sure if the supervillain status would bother the Circus or not. People like Simon Stagg and Oswald Cobblepot stayed on the list. People who had strong connections to anti-metahuman forces were crossed off, too. Some weren't entrenched deeply enough into metahuman smear campaigns to stop considering the idea that they might be faking it. Others, like Amanda Waller and Maxwell Lord were easy to discount.

"How about you?" Roy asked.

Kaldur frowned lightly, thinking, "I find myself firmly neutral about the topic. Being someone who is considered strange and dangerous due to my abilities, I understand the hurt that comes from being judged only by what you were created to be. However, being a superhero, I cannot disregard the actions of metahumans. Almost every known metahuman caused catastrophic amounts of damage when their powers activated. Of course, these metahumans are likely known  _because_  their powers were so catastrophic, but the point still remains. As you said, these people are not prepared to bear the load of this responsibility. Nor should they have to. It is not their fault, but they cannot be allowed to harm others."

"Yeah, I get that." Roy said.

They lapsed into silence for a moment before Kaldur asked, brows furrowed, "Why does Artemis hate the metahumans so much?"

Roy tipped his head back, "How should I know why that  _traitor_  does anything?" Kaldur gave him a  _look_  and Roy capitulated with a sigh, "Look, I honestly don't know. If I had to  _guess_ , I'd say that it's not that she hates them, but that she distrusts them. From what I gather by her behavior, she acts like a complete jerk towards people she doesn't trust. If anything in a person makes her doubt them at all, then they're on her black list and they're getting all her worst. I have to assume that's her way of protecting herself and others? Something to the effect of, it won't hurt as much if they betray her. Maybe something along the lines of her being prepared for it if they betray her. It might even be some sort of gauntlet. If they can take that kind of behavior from her, then they must be good? Some whacked mix of the three? I really don't know." Kaldur tipped his head to Roy, agreeing with his points.

Dick wasn't sure what to eliminate next. He'd already narrowed it down to so many specifications, but there were still over a thousand possible candidates. The most frustrating thing about this entire exercise was that it could be entirely fruitless. There's the chance that Artemis was right, and the Circus was stealing all of this money. There was no guarantee that they actually  _had_ benefactors. And there was no guarantee that they didn't.

The most difficult part of this entire puzzle was the knowledge that he didn't know how much money the Circus needed. Without that information, it was like putting together a complex puzzle with thousands of pieces and a tricky picture without having an image to compare the puzzle pieces to. In other words: nearly impossible.

"Dick?  _Dick_? Are you even listening to us?" Roy snapped, actually snapping his fingers in front of Dick's face.

Groaning, Dick pushed back the keyboard and glared through his mask at his friends, "I was  _trying_  to do what I came here to do! And it's useless! I've got a list of about a thousand potentials! And no way of crossing any more out. I need to know more about how the Circus operates to even  _attempt_  to find out more about who might be a benefactor. There's even the chance that they might not  _know_  they're a benefactor and are instead just donating to a dummy corporation. I have no clue!"

Roy gave him a droll stare, "So… you weren't listening to a word we said."

"I always  _listen_ , I just don't always…  _process_. I even used something you said to cross stuff off my list! But if it wasn't pertinent to what I was doing –  _what I came down here to do_  – then I wasn't…  _processing_." Dick responded, crossing his arms petulantly.

Roy rolled his eyes, throwing his head back and sighing. Kaldur ducked his head to hide a smile before saying, "We were merely wondering what your opinion on metahumans was."

Dick frowned, "Their main danger is that they act unregulated. When a hero acts, they do so with the intention of upholding the law. When the metas act, they do so with the intention of doing something for their own people. There have been some that have literally said that our  _human_  law doesn't apply to them. And I know that a lot of them think that way. That's certainly the way the Circus acts. They break laws all the time! They need to act within their proper bounds or not have powers at all. That's what I think. I also think that they get a bad rep. The more dangerous a meta is, the more people will hear about it. The harmless ones or the less destructive, more helpful ones won't get talked about because it's not as sensational. Because of that, all people ever hear are the bad things bad metas are doing. Until their powers can be regulated, dismantled, or properly trained, metas should not be allowed out to interact with humans."

Both of his friends nodded, apparently satisfied with his answer.

After a moment, Dick whispered, "Everything's going to change, isn't it?"

"Not us." Roy answered confidently, "We've been friends for a long time and that's not going to change. Maybe everything else will, but never us."

"How can you know?" Kaldur asked, eyes big and sad and worried in his face. A lot of the time, Kaldur acted as the oldest among them, matured beyond their years and wisdom. Sometimes, however, there were moments like this where they looked up to Roy, as their oldest friend. Sometimes there were moments when all of them acted their age and were scared and wanted someone to assure them. With the kind of life they lived, moments like those were few and far between due to necessity, but they were powerful when they occurred.

Roy smiled at them and shook his head ruefully, "How can I not know? It's us. What could possibly break us apart?"


	7. First Mission

WWWWWW

For all that Wally loved running with every fiber of his being, there were moments like this where he was a little bitter about his ability.

By necessity, Wally was the last one to really arrive at their new home. He'd brought Garfield and Dinah over at the same time, dropping them off together so no one had to wait with the heroes alone. Kelvin had been next just because he was such a pain to carry around and Wally wanted to get him over with. Kelvin thought it was hilarious. Cameron had gone next after whining Wally into letting him go after Kelvin instead of leaving him for last like usual. Jinx and Lorraine – both of them being rather slim – were easy to carry at the same time. Lorraine, being slightly larger than Jinx, climbed on Wally's back and held on while Jinx was carried bridal style. After that, Wally had had to make several trips between his main headquarters and the new headquarters to bring all the luggage.

By the end, he was starting to feel tired, a slight burn starting in his lungs and his thighs. The Team and the Circus were mingled together for once, instead of being clumped into their own groups. Both teams were smirking at him as he took in a rugged breath of air. The way they were intermingled, making them seem like one force, was the only reason Wally felt comfortable enough to snap, "What?"

He regretted it immediately; he'd wanted to portray some sort of a cool, calm, collected nature. He didn't want them to underestimate any member of his team and that meant keeping control around them, showing nothing but a leader. Other than Artemis's scowl deepening, no one commented on his slip in control. He wasn't sure if they even noticed. There probably wasn't all that much of a reason for them to notice. Red Arrow's smirk deepened, "Out of shape much?"

Cameron snorted, "The day fearless leader gets out of shape is the day I celebrate a life that's finally worth living without all of his merciless training exercises." Wally glared with a particular vindictive fondness that seemed to be just for Cameron and somehow recognizable even through shaded goggles. Cameron smirked at him. Wally wanted to throw something at him.

Miss Martian states sympathetically, "I am sure it is very difficult to carry all of his team members and their gears here. We do not even know how far he needed to run." Finally, someone who appreciates him a little bit.

Wally made to milk the most out of the green teenager's sympathies, but Harold completely ruined it by cocking his head to the side and asking, "Do you not do the same thing with your bioship?"

Attention of the Team and the Circus officially diverted to the science behind the mind link between Miss Martian and her ship, Wally slumped. So much for some far overdue sympathy. Honestly, life just wasn't fair to him. Still, it did give him a moment to get his bearings back. As much as he was used to running around and carrying his team members as a form of transport, he didn't usually have to run as far as he did. He also didn't usually need to carry luggage too. He was pretty sure that Jinx packed extra just to screw with him, too. Garfield, Wally believed honestly just packing a lot of stuff. Personally, Wally believed that a lot of Gar's animal instincts transferred over to his human form, including the need to nest which Wally attributed Garfield's almost obsessive collection of weird trash. Whatever. One man's trash was another man's treasure or something like that.

Jinx, however? Definitely doing it just to be rude.

Kelvin's possessions always made him seem like a sad, old bachelor who just wants to find a nice girl. Which basically translated to: he had practically nothing of substance to move into a new home. Dinah had a weird obsession with growing plants and fixing up old bikes, so that made up the majority of her possessions. Not a lot of those were transferrable (Wally and Harold had worked together to set up a system to water and take care of the plants for times like this where they weren't able to be in HQ for long periods of time), although Wally knew that there would be plants mysteriously coming out of nowhere to populate her new room that Wally  _would_  have to cart back to HQ when the time came. In the end, Dinah mainly just had a lot of clothes and a lot of makeup for someone that didn't actually switch outfits often nor wear makeup often. Wally didn't bother questioning it.

Lorraine's stuff was simple and practical, but bulky. She was a little  _too_  practical sometimes. He was pretty sure that he'd seen her pack an entire heavy duty first aid kit into one of her suitcases. He really wouldn't have been surprised.

Cameron and Wally, however, always traveled light. In their eyes, they didn't need a lot to live off of. That didn't mean that they had no attachment to the material world or whatever. It was almost the opposite for Wally, actually. His collection of souvenirs from missions and different countries he'd gone to would attest to that. Still, he didn't need to bring them with him. They were displayed proudly in the place he'd like to think of as home. That was all he needed.

Wally blinked when he heard his codename being called. Looking up from where he'd leaned against the luggage, he saw that Aqualad was standing in front of him, polite expression seemingly plastered onto his face. Maybe that saying about how keeping your face in one expression for too long would freeze your face like that forever had some merit to it after all.

Glancing around carefully, Wally ascertained that the rest of his team were harmlessly talking with the Team. Turning his attention back to his current co-leader, Wally nodded to him, "Aqualad."

Aqualad gazed at him with a frank expression, "We find ourselves with quite the task ahead of us. It will not be easy to combine our teams. There will be many difficulties waiting for us in the future."

"From what I know of my own team and what I've seen of your own, I think I can say that we both kind of excel in dealing with difficulties." Wally responded, the same amount of frankness in his voice. He actually liked Aqualad quite a bit.

Something approaching a smile touched the corners of Aqualad's lips as he inclined his head to Wally, "That is true. And yet, there will be many difficulties of our own making. There are those on our team who are hesitant to rely on your kind for any type of assistance. The Light would cause tension among even the strongest and most bonded groups. They already cause tension among my own team with rumors and hints towards a spy in our ranks."

Trying to prevent his gaze from becoming sharp and knowing that he'd failed, Wally spoke cautiously, "Interesting of you to reveal so much about a potential spy." He hesitated for the briefest of seconds before pushing, "Do you believe that there is a spy?"

Aqualad sent Wally a considering look of his own. Wally had the sudden, depressing realization that there was a good chance that Aqualad was a whole lot better at subtle manipulation and intensive political maneuvering than Wally would ever be. Aqualad gave that almost smile again, something sharper and slightly approving in it, "I believe in my team."

That honestly startled a quiet, single breath of laughter from Wally. His lips curved up a little bit at the corners in a quasi-smirk and he raised an eyebrow, "I think that was possibly the best answer I could have gotten there."

There was a softer look in Aqualad's eyes as he kept that same smile, "I have come to realize through this interaction that we will work well together."

Still slightly amused under it all, Wally's smirk faded, but his sincerity didn't, "I have come to realize through this interaction that you are actually terrifying." There was  _definitely_  something  _really_ sharp in Aqualad's returning smile. Wally got the sudden feeling that Aqualad was born with this evil streak in him, a terrifying master piece that would have made an  _awesome_  supervillain. He wasn't sure if he was sad that it had been trained out of him (Aqualad might have been the first villain to actually take over the world and that would have been so amusing to watch) or glad (see reason for being sad).

Tilting his head towards their waiting teams – or, rather,  _team_  now, - Aqualad said, "Shall we?"

Wally nodded and the two walked towards their team.

This seemed to be impeccable timing because both Robin and Cameron spoke at the same time, "We have a mission."

Both teens gave each other suspicious looks before Cameron waved a hand, "You first."

The whites of Robin's mask narrowed (and  _how_  did that work?), but he didn't comment on it, instead saying, "We've got a mission. Batman sent it to me through my communicator. There's a major shipment of the Venom drug coming into America through New Orleans, which luckily isn't that far away" Wally resisted the urge to sneer. Batman sent it to them? They can't even pick their own missions? He resisted, though. He knew that it wasn't their fault, and this was likely as much as they had been able to push. It was disappointing, though, and Wally found himself irrationally upset about placing his trust in the Team. How could he truly trust them if they couldn't even run their own team? But that wasn't fair to anyone and he couldn't change it now. The League wouldn't have worked with a bunch of teenagers either. This was their only chance.

Robin paused and sent a nod to Cameron, who then spoke, "We've got a fight too. The Light is recruiting. They're going to do a test run, ambush a group of metas who were trying to join up. If the metas can at least hold their ground, then they'll be allowed to join up."

Wally scowled darkly, "Don't they have enough metas? Don't they have enough  _people_? What are they planning that requires this many underlings? The more people they add, the more obvious they're going to get."

Red Arrow sent Wally a considering look, but didn't say anything before Aqualad was speaking, "It might be prudent to split each of our teams into two. Each of us can then send members on both missions. It would allow us to practice fighting together in the interim. I would lead the team in New Orleans and you would lead the team where the metahuman fight is."

Considering the proposition at lightning speed, Wally nodded, "Works for me. Let me run our things outside while you split your team and I'll try to split my team to compliment yours. Sound good?" He barely waited for Aqualad to nod before he raced off, luggage dragging behind him. This was going to suck. He just finished lugging people around and now he got to go drag more people around. This time strangers, too. It was always awkward for him to carry people for the first time. There was generally puking, and angry mumblings involved. Fantastic. Maybe, if he was lucky, they had another bioship around there somewhere. Maybe the bioship could split into two bioships. There had to be someone else who could drive the ship. It wouldn't make sense to have only one person able to use the transportation (Wally firmly ignored the voice in his head that told him that was what he did). They had to have something else to transport the Team when they split up, right?

When he returned, the Team was split into two vaguely uncomfortable groups. Neither group looked exactly thrilled to be running off with metas into a fight without even practicing with them before. Wally couldn't say he was all too thrilled either, but he also knew better than anyone that bonding over battle could be quite effective.

Aqualad's group contained Artemis, Superboy, and Rocket. The other group (Wally's group, technically) had Robin, Red Arrow, Zatanna, and Miss Martian. It was nice of Aqualad to put the most openly hostile team member in the group that would  _not_  be dealing with metas.

Now, how could Wally split up his own team to match that. Both of the teams so far had fliers. Aqualad's group was a little muscle heavy, so Kelvin could come with Wally. Wally's group had a lot of the long range attackers, so Wally put Jinx and Lorraine with Aqualad. Aqualad's team would probably need a hacker, so Harold went with them. Wally would take Dinah and Garfield. He'd leave Cameron with the other group. Typically, Wally tried to keep Cameron on his own team because they worked so well together, but he knew that it was better to put the leader and the second-in-command in different groups so the chain of command could remain intact if someone took out an entire team.

Decisions made, Wally started motioning people towards whichever team he wanted them in. In the end, Aqualad was leading Artemis, Superboy, Rocket, Jinx, Lorraine, Harold, and Cameron. Wally was leading Robin, Red Arrow, Zatanna, Miss Martian (he wondered if she would change her name to Mrs. Martian if she got married. He promptly ignored the thought because it was useless and stupid), Kelvin, Dinah, and Garfield. There, the groups were split evenly and Wally thought that there was a pretty even distribution of talents in each group. Neither one should be going into this completely unprepared.

Aqualad nodded towards him and made to leave. It was Harold who noticed the problem, "How are we going to get to the places we need to go? Miss Martian is with Supersonic, who'll run them where they need to go, so she won't be able to pilot you guys around."

Miss Martian smiled easily, not concerned, "The bioship can be altered for manual flight as well. Robin's the best at flying it, but Artemis and Aqualad are really good as well. We're working on teaching the rest of them how to fly it. But either Artemis or Aqualad will work for this mission."

Wally sighed out a breath of relief. That was good. That could have gotten really complicated otherwise. Finally, Aqualad and Wally nodded towards each other again and Aqualad actually left, his team trailing along behind him. Wally could see the nerves in each of his team member's shoulders. It hurt him to see them so anxious, so nervous, but there was little he could do. At this point, he'd take what he could get. This was a lot friendlier than they had been prepared for when they'd prepped for the initial meeting. The Team held a lot of pleasant surprises and Wally was content to just be thankful for that.

Turning back to face his own team, Wally was almost nailed in the head with something. Only reflexes and speedster abilities allowed him to catch the item. He squinted down at it and saw that it was one of his protein bars. Oh. That was probably a good idea. He flashed (pun totally intended. See? Wally still had a sense of humor) Dinah a quick grin before stuffing the bar into his mouth. Not wanting to waste time, he did his best to chew and talk at the same time, "Alright, I'm going to run Zatanna and Miss Martian there first. Then I'll grab Black Canary and Changeling. I'll probably grab Robin next. Then Ballistic and then Red Arrow. We'll be a little distance away from the possible attack. We'll make our plan there. Everyone got that?" It was his way of asking for comprehension and agreement at the same time. Everyone nodded.

Alright, then. Off they went. Wally toted them over exactly as he'd explained he would, careful about how tight he was holding the Team members, careful about how fast he ran on their first time. Luckily, no one seemed  _too_  affected by it. Red Arrow had to lean up against a wall for a long moment, holding his stomach with one hand. Miss Martian blinked a lot and her steps were more than a little shaky when she was first put down. Robin and Zatanna seemed to adore it, however. Robin was doing this strange (read: terrifying) cackle thing that honestly sent chills down Wally's spine. Zatanna's eyes had gone bright and excited, and she was wearing a huge grin. Wally felt the urge to preen. Someone who appreciates his speed was always like a breath of fresh air.

Still, he couldn't afford to bask in this at the moment. There were more serious things to talk about. Then again, there never really was a moment to bask in anything. Busy didn't even come close to describing the hectic nature of Wally's life. And most things he had to attend to were vitally important, too. There was never really a moment to relax and be a kid and feel special.

He faced his temporary team, "This is the info I've got so far. There are seven of them and they call themselves the Blood Pack." Kelvin gave him a narrow-eyed look and Wally nodded to him. These were the people who had offered for Kelvin to join them while they were on the run. He'd refused and turned himself into the Collection Agency on some sort of principal, determined to keep up the law. Wally continued, "They've been on our radar for a while, but never in a bad way. They're typically pretty vigilante-based – saving metas and all that jazz. The Light has apparently convinced them that they're the new safe haven for metas and, having a meta on the main council and that many metas already in their employ, they've got a lot to back them up. We're fuzzier on their exact powers. The leader is Jade, who's basically got powers similar to a Green Lantern. Then there's the Geist, who can turn invisible in bright light. Therefore, avoid bright light around him – and Jade too. Rumors are that she can photosynthesize or something ridiculous like that? Geist, however, can be blinded by  _really_  bright light. I'm a little unclear on how that works. Hacker's name is Razorblade and she turns her arms into, well, razor blades. Sparx can turn into electricity and knows enough about electromagnetism to be pretty dangerous with that. Mongrel can fly and shook energy. We're not sure what kind or how to counteract it or whatever. Loria can turn into metal? What metal, I don't know. How long is lasts, I don't know. How far it goes, I don't know. No one really knows a thing about her. Then there's Nightblade. Meta powers aren't all that offensive, but he's got regenerative abilities, so be careful of that."

Wally had been flashing (pun  _totally_  intended) pictures of each person as he spoke about them, more than slightly anxious about letting the heroes know this much about these metas. After all, they were going to brought back to the metahuman city to be processed and rehabilitated. He didn't like the heroes knowing this much about possible allies. He couldn't be helped, though.

Voice stern, Wally said, "Our objective is  _not_  to take out the Blood Pack. Our objective is to thwart the Light's attempt to get the Blood Pack to join them."

"If we stop them from joining now and don't take them out, then what's to stop them from trying again later?" Zatanna asked fiercely. Wally bristled slightly before he realized that she wasn't accusing, just being realistic.

Still, Wallly wasn't about to explain the city they'd made either, "Let us worry about that. For right now, we've got to avoid being attacked by the Blood Back and, hopefully, we can nab a few Light goons while we're at it."

Robin was frowning, "Your information is kinda sparse."

"Well, there's only so much we can do about that. We've only been a team for about a year and there are  _a lot_ of underground metahuman groups. We don't have the same access and history as you guys do. We're trying to identify all possible threats and allies before we start digging in deep." Wally answered, trying to not be offended. Honestly, it wasn't his fault that none of them really knew how to run a vigilante team fresh out of one of those metahuman camps. Dinah's mother had trained Dinah in this weird, almost vigilante way which was a large portion of why Dinah was an awesome fighter, so she knew some stuff. Kelvin had been a part of the Gotham police force, so they had that knowledge. Garfield had been tricked into stealing stuff and Cameron had been trained since birth to be a career criminal, so they knew how criminals thought. Harold was a genius with computers. Beyond that? Nothing. Not even the slightest thing to help them.

Apparently, that was all Robin needed to hear because he nodded in understanding and went silent. Wally glanced around, "Any questions about the information you've been given?" Everyone shook their heads.

Wally nodded back to them, "Alright, let's get to making a game plan, then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, fun fact that I'm not sure if I've told you or not: I refuse to use OCs in my story. If someone has a name in this story, then they are a real DC Comics character. Why I did this to myself is beyond me. I've already become attached to the Blood Pack after all the research I did into finding the perfect people to fight. This is ridiculous. Why is this my life?


	8. Battle

WWWWWW

This was turning out to be a little bit more of a disaster than Wally had been expecting. Like, he wasn't sure why he had been expecting anything less than a disaster, but he had. And he was sorely disappointed. Because this was a disaster.

Creating the game plan had always been a team activity with Wally making the final decisions, unless they had to come up with a game plan really, really quickly in which case it was all up to Wally to do it. The reason he let everyone join in on planning out how they were going to attack is because he really didn't know enough about fighting and sneaking into places and taking information or whatever to come up with plans on his own. Again, he could make something if they got in a pinch and needed some quick thinking, but it just made sense to allow everyone's opinion and expertise into the decisions. Plus, he knew his people well enough to know that they'd get touchy if they weren't allowed some voice in the game plan.

Apparently, this was not the way the Team did things. They were used to Aqualad coming up with plans. Occasionally, he'd ask for advice from someone or he'd check to make sure that someone had a necessary skill. Otherwise, as leader, he always gave the order on where to go and when. The rest of the decisions were made by the Team members in the heat of the moment. To Wally, that seemed like a good way to grow resentment. Well, that's what he thought until he pictured Aqualad's razor-sharp smile and was promptly reminded of how terrifying and efficient Aqualad was. He was pretty sure he'd be fine taking order from him, too.

Anyways, making a game plan was something of a disaster for that reason. Wally and his people were doing fine, but their knowledge of the comforts and typical roles of the members of the Team were lacking. They were trying to draw them into the planning, but they were hesitant to take such a large role in designing the game plan. And when they finally took an active effort in designing the game plan, it was chaos!

"That's the stupidest idea I have ever heard in my entire life." This was from Zatanna in retaliation to one of Robin's comments.

Wally tried to interject (the idea actually hadn't been that bad; it had just needed a tweak here or there), but Miss Martian spoke up first, "We should not fight like this! I am sure that Robin's idea has merit. Although, elements of Zatanna's plan are quite useful as well." She adopted a thinking expression as both Robin and Zatanna glowered at her for not picking a side.

Red Arrow groaned loudly and said, "Let's just do Robin's thing!"

"You're just saying that because you've known him for longer! How am I supposed to compete against that? It's not  _my_  fault that I haven't known you since we were kids or something!" Zatanna cried, throwing her hands in the air.

"You're still a kid," Red Arrow sneered.

Dinah rolled her eyes, "Because that's the mature response, really."

"Hey, he has a point. I mean, it's not his fault that she's taking it this way." Kelvin added. Wally wanted to die. His own team members were getting into this mess? Garfield had adopted the same thinking expression that Miss Martian had, and they were quietly thinking in the corner. Wally honestly felt a part of his soul dying.

"I'm not commenting on her behavior! I'm just saying that Red Arrow could be more mature! Don't patronize me, Ballistic!" Dinah snarled, getting up in Kelvin's face.

This, at least, was familiar territory. Wally felt a little less like his feet had been pulled out from underneath him with the reignition of this common argument. Voice hard, adopting what Cameron had dubbed his 'disappointed leader face', "If I hear one more insult coming from either of your mouths –  _any_  of your mouths, - there will be problems."

Dinah and Kelvin quieted immediately and Zatanna, Robin, and Red Arrow followed soon after. Wally frowned at them all, "Now that we've figured out that you guys are useless at this without proper practice, we're going to do this a different way. I'll figure out a plan and tell you what to do. We're on a mission! I'm not saying that you can't joke around with each other and tease each other, but do  _not_  get into an argument! Us standing together is the only thing that will stop the Light. Right now, you're no better than criminals because your negligence will let them get away. Am I understood?" He received a scattering of sheepish nods and wide-eyed stares. Huffing, Wally finished, "Again, I'm fine if you talk and joke around, but do not let negative emotions take over in a fight. I won't be responsible for any of you dying. Pull something like this again and you will be benched. And if some of you think I can't bench you because I'm not your leader, you're  _wrong_. I am the co-leader of this group and I  _will_  bench you. Am I understood?" He received the nods and wide-eyed stares again.

Releasing a breath of frustration, Wally ran a hand up through the red hair that stuck through his suit. Okay. This was okay. He could do this. Getting in and keeping the battle contained to the warehouse (in order to prevent irreversible damage to other buildings which could cause a lot of confusion) would be the easy part. The hard part would be going up against the Blood Pack. They had been working together longer than the Circus had, formed when they all got their powers the same way. They hadn't always been a vigilante group, but a lot of them had foreknowledge of fighting techniques, which was more than the Circus had when they formed. The worst part about going up against the Blood Pack was that they were expecting to be ambushed. And while the Team and Circus knew when they were going to be ambushed due to info from their spy, the Blood Pack didn't know. They'd have their hackles raised the whole day.

The attack would need to be immediate, would need to focus on being overt instead of covert. The Blood Pack were expecting a sneak attack, an ambush when they were least expecting it. The best way to get them off their game was to attack when they were most expecting it, in the flashiest way possible. They wouldn't see it coming. The hope would be that they could incapacitate a few of the members in that moment of confusion. The continuing struggle would be on more even terms. It would, actually, be more in Wally's favor. And that was what Wally needed if he wanted to subdue these guys without actually hurting them. Plus, the less energy exerted on this fight, the more energy there would be to go up against the Light goons that would come to test this group.

Looking around at his group, Wally narrowed his eyes. He had his plan.

The actual carrying out of the plan went a whole lot smoother than the plan-making process (which was, actually, exactly the opposite of what Wally had been expecting). The Team obviously didn't let anything phase them during battle.

Kelvin and Zatanna made more noise than Wally thought was possible when they quite literally broke down the door. And a large portion of the wall surrounding the door. Maybe a little bit of the window too. Yikes.

Kelvin had plucked up his massive bomb-throwing gun thing that Wally never bothered to learn the name of. Zatanna had chanted, "Ekam a duol esion!" Kelvin had released his bomb at the same time. The door had exploded with a booming crash that sounded a little bit like what Wally expected an enormous landslide to sound like.

Robin had thrown a smoke bomb into the building in tandem with Red Arrow's smoke arrow. The room was instantly filled with the stuff. Wally could hear coughing coming from inside, people trying to fan the smoke away from them. There was the sound of a terrific scream coming from the back of the warehouse. Wally could see a couple of the Team members flinch, obviously not really prepared for the sound Dinah could make. Still, it served its purpose of destroying the fuse box. The lights went out, leaving the Team and Circus reliant on their night-vision goggles. Kelvin had natural night vision and Wally knew that Garfield would have turned into a creature with reliable night vision.

Now, the Blood Pack were in the dark, surrounded by smoke, and caught off guard. Miss Martian had flown invisible over their heads with Garfield following her, transformed into a little green fly. Dinah had also come in the back, staying outside long enough to damage the fuse box.

Wally waited to make his move knowing that his speed would not only create bursts of lightning that would be obvious to see, but also would blow the smoke away. Both of which would be counter-productive.

Still, he watched the members of his team work through his goggles. He could hear a voice shouting, "Parw Xraps ni noitalusni!" He could hear a female yelping afterwards, pink fluffs of insulation floating down from the ceiling and wrapping around a figure that was sparking into bright blue electricity. There was a shifting shape off to the side of him and he saw a giant black (green) bear towering over a figure that had about the right dimensions to be Geist. That man was brought down in one paw swipe, incapable of being able to do anything but cower at the giant beast that had towered over him while he was separated from his team and startled by the noise and smoke.

That happened not a moment too soon because Jade lit up above them. She glowed a bright, hallowed green that immediately bathed over Geist and turned him invisible. Luckily, Garfield still had a hand on the metahuman and was securing him with the anti-meta powers cuffs. Otherwise, they would have had an invisible meta running around and that would have massively sucked. Wally hadn't guessed that the light from Jade's power would be enough to send Geist into invisibility.

Two down, five more to go.

Now that Jade was lighting up the room and a good portion of the smoke had dissipated, Wally made his move. He zipped into the room, immediately taking out Razorblade as she attempted to run for the fuse box or something more sinister that Wally hadn't been expecting. He punched her in the face before getting the cuffs around her wrists. Her arms immediately slimmed down into regular arms rather than the razor blades they'd been. The cuffs shifted size to match it.

A burst of light flashed in the corner of Wally's eyes. He was twisting around to avoid getting hit when a stray plank of wood levitated in front of him and took the brunt of the blast. Wally sent a grateful nod to Miss Martian (who was… somewhere in this mess).

Mongrel sent another volley of hits that Wally was able to dance around, legs jetting in and out of the bursts of dark colored light (that felt like an oxymoron, but Wally wasn't sure what else it could be). When Wally was close enough to lay a punch, a different hand intercepted the blow before a foot kicked Wally in the midriff hard enough to send him crashing back onto the floor behind him. Wheezing slightly, Wally found himself facing a new opponent, Nightblade. Mongrel was being taken care of by Kelvin's hulking form off to the side. Wally could hear Robin, Red Arrow, and Garfield working on Jade together. Loria was going against Miss Martian and Zatanna.

That meant that Wally had Nightblade all to himself.

Before Wally could even get himself back on his feet, there was a throwing knife inches from his face. Panicked briefly, Wally instinctually slowed down time. He watched the knife slow and then stop, still a safe distance from his face. Breathing out slowly, Wally grabbed the knife and walked over to where Nightblade was. Angling himself carefully, he made sure that he was in clear view of Jade (easily the most dangerous opponent) before he snapped the cuffs on Nightblade's wrists and held his own knife to his neck.

Time sped back to normal and with it came Nightblade's surprised cry and brief moment of struggle. Wally made sure that he wasn't getting out of the restraints before calling up, "Jade! Call off your people or watch them die!"

The team members who had been fighting Jade stopped, the rest of the Blood Pack's movements slowing as well as they stared at Nightblade in open horror. Jade sneered down at Wally, "The Light won't kill us if we fail."

Wally sent her a feral look, teeth bared, "Good thing we aren't the Light then. We're actually pretty against the Light." He could see, out of the corner of his eye, Robin shifting slightly, an uncomfortable expression taking over his expressions. He realized after a moment that it was adorning every Team member's face. What was their problem? Oh! Oh, yeah. The whole killing thing. They didn't kill. In hindsight, that was probably something that should have been talked about in the original meeting. Oh well. They'd talk about it later.

Jade paled, glancing around the room, noting that almost all of her comrades were fallen. The only one left standing was Mongrel. The rest were restrained in some way or another. There was a long moment of silence before, surprisingly, Robin spoke, "Oh, and those traps that you're waiting for Razorblade to set off? I've disabled them." He sent them a winning smile as Jade screamed in rage. Razorblade was scowling fiercely, a small tablet that Wally hadn't seen clenched in her hands. Despite the fact that they were cuffed behind her back, she'd still been trying to start off the traps. Wally was impressed with that kind of fortitude and skill.

Practically hissing at that point, Jade glared at Wally, "What do you want?"

"We want you to surrender yourselves. We don't want you to join the Light. They're not what you think they are." Wally answered. He kept his grip tight on the knife pressed against Nightblade's neck.

Jade snarled, "And what do we think they are?"

"Safe haven? A place for people like you to fight back and save your own kind –  _our_  kind – with actual backup and gadgets and a place to live other than whatever hole in the wall you manage to find? Some mixture of the two?" Wally guessed, trying to keep his voice as non-threatening as possible while he physically threatened her teammate.

She swallowed. Wally could actually see her resolve weaken. He pressed, "That's not what the Light is. I can provide that for you, though. At the very least, I can do my best. I'm not promising anything other than my sincere efforts. I represent the Circus. I can help you  _and_  your team."

He watched as Jade scanned the room, watching each and every member of her team. He watched her realize that none of them were all that injured. The worst injuries came from the bruise forming on Geist's face and the several slash marks on Mongrel's clothes. Suddenly, she stiffened, " _Ballistic_."

"Hey, Jade. Been a while, hasn't it?" Kelvin asked with a sardonic smile, one eye still focused on Mongrel.

Jade shook her head, "But… you turned yourself into the Collection Agency! You said… Did you lie?"

"No. I turned myself in and they brought me to a camp. A little over three years later, Supersonic broke us out of there and formed the Circus. It was only natural that I followed him." Kelvin said, nodding his head towards Wally. Wally nodded his head back.

There was a naked hope in Jade's eyes when she turned back to Wally, "You broke him out of camp?"

"Yeah," Wally answered. He didn't need to say anything more. She instantly made a hand signal and her teammates relaxed. Carefully, Wally did a super speedy pat down of Nightblade and grabbed as many knives as he could before lightly shoving the Blood Pack member away from him. Jade came over and turned around, offering her hands behind her.

Red Arrow raised his eyebrows, obviously curious that she would so willingly let herself be cuffed. Jade looked over her shoulder at Wally, "Just one question before I let you take us away. Why are you working with  _them_?" She jerked her head at the heroes, who had naturally clumped together.

Wally answered as honestly as he could, "We have a common goal." Jade frowned, obviously not pleased with the lack of information, but she acquiesced anyways, letting Wally cuff her.

Wally let out a breath of relief, "Okay, here's what's going to happen next. I'm going to bring these guys to a couple warehouses over. I'll send Kelvin over with them as protection and to make sure that they don't get out. We'll get ready for the next phase. We'll deal with the Blood Pack when I'm done, got it?" He got nothing but nods again.

Blowing out a breath, Wally started carting the people over, starting with Kelvin to make sure that there was someone there to watch the group.

Of course, it wasn't the Blood Pack that he needed to worry about. Somehow, in the nanosecond or whatever that had passed from when he grabbed the last Blood Pack member to his return to the original warehouse, pandemonium had erupted. Unbelievable.

Not even taking a second to sigh (although he really, really wished he could), Wally dove into battle. It was looking like Ra's al Ghul's assassins again, though there were definitely metahumans mixed in. Once again, unbelievable. How on earth did he miss them going between the warehouses? Had they see him moving between the warehouses? Were they going for Kelvin even as they attacked here?

No, he could worry about that later. The majority of his people were here, in this warehouse. He needed to focus on that instead. Nothing else. Kelvin would be okay. He had the release to the handcuffs if he needed extra backup. He was fine.

Okay, back to the fight.

Robin had evidently reactivated the traps because there were assassins dangling from the stereotypical tightening rope trick (although, the rope was not breaking… what was that made out of?) and a group of metas inside of a glass cage that was quickly filling with a brightly colored smoke that was causing the metas to fall to the ground. Wally zipped over to where his team was standing, forming a concentrated unit against the enemy.

"They came out of nowhere!" Zatanna shouted, obviously frightened.

"Yeah, I'm starting to realize that. We need a moment to get our bearings back. Black Canary's going to do a sweep. The rest of you fan out and go for the openings she creates. Oh, and I would cover your ears." Wally threw back, already zipping towards the other side of the warehouse. He could hear Garfield taking to the air behind him, heading for the other end of the warehouse. They would move inwards through the enemies while the rest worked their way outwards. It wasn't as classy or put together as it could have been if they'd been given an  _instant_  longer to prepare, but it was all they had.

He saw Robin open his mouth to say something, but Dinah firmly put his hands over his ears. Robin jerked a little bit under her touch but allowed it in the end. When everyone had their ears covered (for all the good it would do them, unfortunately), Dinah turned back towards the enemy that had them completely surrounded. She opened her mouth and  _screamed_.

Wally saw Zatanna and Miss Martian violently flinch. Red Arrow started cursing and Robin blinked, a little dazed. Luckily, Dinah threw a kick behind her to remind whoever was closest to start attacking in the openings. That was Red Arrow and he glared at her for a moment before realizing what she was trying to show. He moved into the opening, shoulders hunching a little bit as if to cover his ears while his hands were busy with his bow. Dinah kept screaming, knocking down the first wave of attackers.

Miss Martian moved into the next available spot, floating into the air and sending crates and other things flying at the assassins and metas gathered there. Robin moved next, a batarang exploding into yellow dust that fell into the assassin's eyes. They cried out, but Robin was already there, slashing at them with his bo staff and kicking out at them when that wasn't enough. He engaged himself in a battle surrounded by the assassins, fighting each one as they all surrounded him. Zatanna moved last, letting out a round house kick to the assassin who came closest. She raised her hands in front of her, hands splayed almost like she was conducting marionette puppets below her, "Ekahs siht ebolgwons!"

Almost immediately, a localized snowstorm erupted in front of her, slamming the opponents in front of her into the ground. Huh, that was kind of neat.

Focusing back in on his own fight, Wally punched on man in the jaw, dodging out of the way of another man's sword. A woman jumped on his back. Wally didn't have the time to turn around and deal with her, so he sped up his molecules, heating up the area beyond what a normal human would withstand.

Which, apparently, was moot here. Although the woman yelped, and Wally could smell her clothes start to singe, she kept holding on, pulling back on his cowl in a way that started choke him.

Gagging, Wally jumped up, kicking out in front of him. His feet made connection with the person in front of him, and Wally used the boost from pushing off of that person to slam his back into the ground. The woman gasped as a cracking sound came from her chest. She finally let go. Wally spun up and around, kicking her once more to make sure she was really down before he went back into the fight.

Somehow, they'd become somewhat bunched up again, a small cluster of heroes and good metas in a sea of assassins and bad metas. The only ones not settled in that were Garfield and Miss Martians as the only fliers.

Garfield decided to change that, dropping out of the air in an angry thud, a huge rhino standing where a hawk had been moments before. The rhino lifted his head, smashing it back down into a group of metahumans standing in front of him. Wally saw that Garfield had landed on a few metas when he'd fallen. Ouch.

With a triumphant roar, Garfield turned into a lion that bared its teeth and bit out at whomever was closest. When that did nothing to disrupt the foes closing in on the group, Garfield bared his teeth one more time before lunging back and into an even larger beast. Wally raised his eyebrows as he fought, watching the giant green Tyrannosaurus Rex fill up the remaining space in the warehouse. Wally had honestly thought that the T. Rex wasn't going to fit. Guess he was wrong.

Red Arrow was cursing again, this time apparently at the fact that there was now a dinosaur sharing a small enclosed space with him. Zatanna was staring at Garfield with slack-jawed wonder. Which, honestly, Wally thought was a little unfair. She just created a miniature snowstorm out of thin air! She had no right to be shocked. (Wally was so going to find out how she did that).

Despite the fact that the T. Rex form did fit in the warehouse, it was a tight fit. There was little to no maneuverability. Garfield was able to turn around and swish his tail at anyone who got too close and he could stamp his feet a little bit, but that was about the extent of his usefulness. Still, that was quite useful.

Without about half of the remaining assassins and metas taken out by Garfield's move alone, the rest of the fight was relatively easy.

Wally struck out at enemy after enemy, kicking and dodging and throwing blows. He was a whirlwind among the enemies, bright, vibrant lightning trailing after him in sparks and waves. He was a literal storm falling down on their heads, catching their knives and bullets and petty human weapons with his hands, reveling in their shocked expressions. They shouldn't underestimate a speedster.

Of course, getting cocky was Wally's number one reason for losing. It was hard not to, though. Even though he'd had any sort of self-worth destroyed in that camp, they'd never been able to take away his love of his speed. It was something that, as far as he knew, no one else had. It was power and lightning working effortlessly with a metahuman body. He could live in his own world, a spot of time beyond what humans could access. It was his and he loved it with every fiber of his being.

That didn't help him all that much when the stupid assassins learned things really quickly. They'd apparently figured out that it would be very, very difficult for him to run on a ground that's rolling. That prompted one of them to drop what looked like a  _ton_  of needles onto the floor. Wally didn't see them fast enough. He didn't even know they were there until he was already falling, feet sliding out from right beneath him.

His breath whooshed out of him and he felt one of the needles pierce through a weak point of his suit, sliding into the skin. Wally hissed, finger twitching towards the needle. It didn't feel like there was any sort of poison on there, but it was hard to tell. Sometimes, Wally ran through the symptoms of a poison too fast to even really detect a poison in the first place.

There was someone literally on top of him before he was able to so much as lift his arms. The person grabbed his head (in a really, really strong grip) and slammed his head against the ground. Wally gasped, dizziness overtaking his vision as a concussion swam into being.

Head pounding, Wally bucked up underneath the person, trying to dislodge them. They stayed stubbornly fastened on, hands clamped around his head, sending the thrumming drum beats pounding back and forth between their fingers. Swallowing down a moment of panic, Wally bucked again, this time getting his knee up underneath the person. He abruptly straightened his knee into the air, painfully snapping his knee and leg into his assailant's crotch.

Disturbingly, that was  _not_  enough to get the person off of him, but it was at the very least enough to get the enemy to release Wally's head. Already knowing that it was a bad idea, Wally smashed his forehead into the enemy's forehead. The drum smashing around in his head centered in his forehead for a moment before seeming to gain strength from the impact, dashing around his head in increasingly louder patterns of pain. Concussions sucked. Why was Wally so stupid?

With the person dazed and in pain, Wally finally rolled out from under them, knocking them sideways off his chest. He managed to kick out at their still form, making contact with their head. There. They wouldn't be getting up from that one.

Blinking through his swimming vision, Wally was pretty sure that everyone else had finished their battles. Garfield no longer seemed to be a T. Rex. That, or Wally just couldn't see him which would be honestly impressive. Swallowing down the rising nausea, Wally rolled just a little bit further until he was up against a wall (when did he even get near the wall?). He used that to pull himself up, rubbing at his temple as he did so.

He blinked again, trying to stop the way the room circled around him. He really, really hated concussions. A voice called out of the lake of colors in front of him, "Hey, you doing alright? You don't look so good."

A couple more blinks revealed the speaker to be Robin, stood a couple of feet away and peering at him cautiously. Wally squished his eyes closed, putting his hand up to his forehead for the briefest of moments before opening his eyes again and finally answering Robin, "I'm good. Let's head on back to the others."

Wally was pretty sure Robin's eyebrows rose before he said worriedly, "The others are right here."

Squinting, Wally blinked around him again and… yep. Yeah, that was the rest of his team. Wally pressed his hand to his forehead again, "This concussion is worse than I thought. I hate concussions so much. This is a really sucky one too."

"Not to sound rude or anything because I really, really don't mean to be, but how are we getting back to base? Because that looks like a really, really bad concussion. Something like that will knock someone out of commission for a couple of weeks. He can't run us home like that!" Zatanna asked, sounding increasingly panicked as she went on.

"Supersonic?" Dinah prompted.

Wally groaned, "I hate my life. Um, give me, like, a half an hour and I should be good. We've got to get these guys bound and processed anyways. Or, well, I'm assuming you guys process the assassins. Which, wait. We should… talk about stuff. That stuff. Um. Metas. We will take the metas – Blood Pack and these guys. You guys can get all the assassins. I'll run the metas to somewhere safe."

The Team members shared a significant look, but they didn't say anything. Wally suspected telepathic communication again. Maybe. He was not in the right headspace to figure out the meaning behind that sort of significant look.

"You know," Robin started tentatively, "We're supposed to turn metas that we catch in to the Collection Agencies."

"And  _that_  is something that we really should have discussed during our initial meeting. For now, can we just say that we haven't decided on how we're going to deal with this and, since this is a Circus mission, we get the metas and you get the assassins?"

After a long pause where they all gave each other significant looks again and tension in the room rose, Red Arrow nodded at him, "You've got a deal."

"Awesome. I'm going to start rounding up metas. I don't think we have enough cuffs with us." Wally said, pushing off the wall and starting towards the group.

Dinah caught him as he started swaying and drooping, laughing gently, "You're going to sit here and recover while  _we_  go deal with them, okay? The faster you recover, the faster we can leave."

Wally blinked, a new thought coming to him as the murky fog wrapped around his head started to dissipate, "Injuries! Is anyone injured?"

"Only you, Super Klutz," Garfield answered, grinning in response to Wally's scandalized expression. It was a running joke among the rest of the Circus. Instead of calling him Supersonic, they'd call him Super Something. Like Super Klutz or Super Stupid or Super Sadist whenever he made them do hard training routines.

Robin cackled again, and Miss Martian gave a little giggle as she went, the rest of Wally's team heading off to go work on cleaning up the mess that had been made in the warehouse. Wally sat back and tried to relax without falling asleep.

Everyone once in a while, he'd call out a helpful comment to someone, or remind someone of a person stuck up in the rafters or behind a crate. Mostly, though, he just sat and reflected on the mission.

It was not anywhere near the problem that Wally had been afraid that it would become. The group he was in charge of worked well together. Well, they worked well  _around_  each other. They didn't know how to fight together yet. That just meant that they had great spatial awareness and a level of understanding relating to fighting alongside other heroes. Still, it was a starting point and that was more than Wally was hoping for.

He didn't know how the other group was doing and he wasn't sure he wanted to know at the moment. He was fairly certain that Artemis would be professional enough to not make her animosity a problem out in the field, but he wasn't entire certain. And he wasn't certain how his own people were going to ask. He knew that Cameron would do his best to keep tempers down, but there was a chance that Jinx or Lorraine could snap. He didn't know. He'd worry about that later. Not now. Later.

This team was rather skilled, too. For all that he was able to get an overview of their powers and abilities through televised battles, there was a lot that he didn't know about their powers and skills, things that had surprised him tonight. And, if he was being honest, impressed him.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Garfield tapping him on the shoulder, "We're ready to go. You good?"

Closing his eyes and opening them, Wally took stock of himself. His head was no longer pounding. There was a distinct lack of stationary objects moving. Nodding, Wally said, "I'm good. How many does it look like I'm running?"

"You're running sixteen, if you include one of us to go over there and get them secured." Dinah answered promptly, anticipating the question.

"Sixteen?" Wally groaned, "Alright, alright. Well, since you volunteered, you'll be going will them to get them secured, Black Canary." Dinah rolled her eyes but nodded. Wally shook out his shoulders, grabbed a protein bar out of one of his arm compartments, scarfed it down, and then shook out his shoulders again, "Alright, I'm ready to go. I'll bring you over first." He grabbed Dinah around the waist and raced her over to the metahuman city they'd set up. He put her in front of the make-shift prison. It wasn't exactly a prison. More like a correctional facility than anything else.

He flashed her a thumbs-up, and she sent a nod and a smile back. Nodding back to her again, Wally sped off. Time to get the rest.

At his careful running-new-people speed, he was able to get all sixteen metas over to the city within five minutes.

He came back panting, "You do not understand how much running I have done today. I don't think I've run this much with this many loads in a long time. This is ridiculous."

Kelvin patted him on the back, "You go ahead and rest for a second. We can wait to go home for another moment or so. Just as long as we're gone before the police get here."

"And how long is that?" Wally asked.

Kelvin looked to Robin, who glanced down at a watch before responding, "About four minutes."

Wally groaned again, "Break over, I guess. Alright, who's first?"

Zatanna and Robin's hands both shot up immediately.  _That_  was the kind of reaction that got him ready to go again. People excited to run with him made him excited to run, gave him a burst of energy. He held out a hand to Zatanna, "I can carry you bridal and Robin can go piggy back?" She nodded and smiled. After only the briefest of hesitations, Zatanna grabbed his hand and allowed him to pull her close. Wally put a steadying hand on her back before sweeping her feet up into his other arm. Robin gingerly got onto his back, latching on.

And Wally  _ran_.

In the end, since Wally was able to carry Beast Boy with any of the others, Wally was able to get them all back to the new headquarters in three minutes and ten seconds. Kelvin clapped him heartedly on the back, "Talk about cutting it close, yeah?"

"I  _dare_  you to do better," Wally muttered. The whole group laughed, coming off of the post-successful-mission high that always left a group feeling light and sleepy and  _content_  in a way nothing else could. It was moments like this that led to some of the best bonding moments.

Red Arrow stretched his arm behind him, "Anyone want to see what kind of goods the kitchen has?"

"Yes!" Garfield cheered, turning into a dog and turning in a circle before he fell on his back and wiggled on the ground. Zatanna put her hand over her mouth and giggled.

Robin tilted his head to the side, "We never got a chance to really ask you guys what your eat, or how you eat and whatever."

"Vegetarian!" Garfield announced, suddenly popping back as a human.

Miss Martian put a finger to her lip, "I would have thought that you would eat meat, having so many animals within you be carnivores."

Garfield wrinkled his nose, "It doesn't really work like that? I mean, the way I think about it is that all those animals that you eat? I can turn into that. It's basically cannibalism every time I eat meat."

"I never thought of it that way!" Miss Martian responded, expression wide with horror. Her expression cleared and became determined, "I will learn more vegetarian meals to help you!"

Wally's eyebrows rose, but all he said was, "Firehawk is a vegetarian too. Maser's allergic to shellfish. The rest of them have normal diets. Kelvin needs about a thousand more calories a day than the average person. On a day with regular activity levels, I need about ten thousand calories. On a day like today? Probably nearing fifteen, twenty thousand calories."

Zatanna, Robin, and Red Arrow was staring at him with something approaching horror. Red Arrow was the one who voiced it, "Where do you even  _get_  that much food? How do you even have enough time in the day to eat all that?"

"I eat fast, too!" Wally defended, cheeks darkening.

They continued to stare at him for a long moment. Then Robin started laughing (read: cackling terrifyingly) again. The rest of them followed him soon after. Wally glowered, "Why do I feel like the majority of today's bonding have occurred over laughing at me?" They all just laughed harder.

Yeah, Wally thought, this really had a chance of working.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gave up at naming chapters because it's hard...

KKKKKK

Kaldur was… not entirely certain what to make of his current team. This mixture of team members had a significantly higher chance of becoming volatile than any other combination. The reasons for this were Artemis and Firehawk. They had already had a bad start at the initial meeting. Artemis had not cared for Firehawk's slightly brusque character. Firehawk had not seemed to care for Artemis's suspicion.

Speaking of which, Kaldur would need to talk to Artemis about her hostility and suspicion. Roy's theories as to the origin of Artemis's reactions to the Circus sounded plausible but were only theories until Kaldur could get answers from the girl herself. Artemis was a complicated character. She was not the newest member of the team, but she acted like it, purposefully separating herself from the rest of the group, remaining as coldly distant as possible while still being able to work with the Team. According to Robin, Artemis had her reasons for acting distant. He said that she was keeping secrets that she believed would cause the rest of the Team to look at her unfavorably. This, of course, only added to Roy's insistence that Artemis was the most likely candidate for the mole.

An argument drew him out of his thoughts. It was an argument between Icicle and Jinx. Icicle was scowling, eyes rolling aggressively, "That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Jinx scowled right back, some form of expression finally crossing her face, "Yeah. Right. I've heard some of the things you and Supersonic talk about. I couldn't even  _touch_  that level of stupidity."

"You're the worst kind of moron. Stupid and unrepentant." Icicle sneered. Firehawk and Maser were making abortive movements to get them to stop arguing in the background. Kaldur sighed. For all that the Circus members were considered terrorists and made up of the incredibly controversial metahuman species, they were still just teenagers. And boys and girls fight as teenagers (at all ages, but especially as teenagers).

"Perhaps we could focus on the strategy instead," Kaldur suggested drolly, attempting to keep up his usual pleasant-and-understanding mask. They were acting like children. Especially dangerous, occasionally murderous children, but still children.

Icicle snapped bright blue, calculating eyes up to Kaldur. The Atlantean resisted the urge to return a sharp look. The Circus's second in command certainly seemed to be able to live up to his position. He was always watching, significantly more on the alert than any of the other members. He had the same suspicious attitude as Supersonic, but without the bone-weary tiredness that seemed to permeate Supersonic's character. He wondered if they were as much of a balance to each other as Kaldur and Robin were. Robin was the unofficial second-in-command, placed there because of his and Kaldur's ability to work well together and Robin's training as a Bat. He had also been a superhero for longer than any of the other members, largely considered the first sidekick.

Kaldur was always calm and collected, a team player who was used to working out in a battlefield, treating each situation as a war, his teammates members of his troop. Robin was excited and bright, a solo hunter who was used to stalking the darkest parts of humanity in the darkness and gloom. Ying and yang. Perfect first and second in command for a group. Were Supersonic and Icicle like that? Or was their leadership different, a stranger sort of push and pull?

Now was not the time to think of such things. There was a battle soon to start.

Ever since the Team traveled to India and discovered the experimentation that the Brain had been doing with the Kobra Venom, there had been a significant increase in Venom sightings across the world. It was concentrating in the United States, being shipped from place to place before it was smuggled into this nation. The Venom always came in small bursts, no one willing to risk a large shipment after their failure on Santa Prisca.

It was hard work tracking down each small instance of Venom that happened across the borders, but they had finally found a shipment. They would, hopefully, be able to stop a drug ring in the process. That is, if they were able to work together long enough for it to happen.

Artemis's glower had been a steady presence through the trip, the expression darkening the portions of her face visible underneath the mask. Her problem with metahumans was definitely an issue that needed to be addressed as soon as they returned to the new base. If possible, Kaldur wanted Supersonic to do that conversation with him. He would like to start demonstrating the idea that the two of them were now co-leaders of this fused team. With that in mind, there were several other things that Kaldur wanted to address with Supersonic, and there were sure to be more things discovered on this mission. A high-stress combat situation like this was simultaneously the best and the worst way of discovering problems within a team. On the one hand, a large portion of potential problems will be spotted. On the other hand, those problems could get the team killed. And that would not happen on Kaldur's watch.

While Kaldur had been thinking, the group had been going over the plan. He had outlined it earlier, watching the Circus members carefully. There had been a few occasions where they had opened their mouths, to say something or to correct him, he wouldn't know because they never actually spoke. Kaldur would need to talk to Supersonic about that, about the technique he used to design, explain, and execute the plan. He usually allowed the members of the Team to go over their own parts individually after he had explained the whole plan, which was what they had been doing.

They understood the plan. They understood their own parts and the parts of the others. Both of which was completely necessary for a mission to run smoothly. Kaldur added to the conversation, "Remember, these enemies will be numerous, but human. It is believed that they have no knowledge of the importance of the drug they are smuggling. They are a regular drug ring that happened upon irregular drugs."

Firehawk had a slightly pinched expression, "You guys are covert ops, right? What does this have to do with covert ops?"

Kaldur smoothly talked over whatever Artemis had been opening her mouth to say, "The Justice League does not want knowledge of the development, distribution, and true nature of Venom to be released to the public and cause an unnecessary panic."

After a pause, Firehawk admitted, "Legitimate." Artemis rolled her eyes on the other side of the bioship. Kaldur fought the urge to sigh again.

Conner suddenly said, "We're here."

The group looked up, out the window, as one. They were hovering invisibly above the warehouse they had come to raid. Honestly, Kaldur was always mildly disappointed (and subsequently guilty for feeling that way) when criminals followed such a cliché pattern. They should understand that this was an overused method of transfer. It might be convenient, but the higher risk of being caught hardly seemed to be less important than the convenience. But, in reality, he wanted them to continue to fall into such clichés because, that way, they were easier to catch, and he would have to worry about one less drug ring in the world.

Icicle whistled slightly behind them, "What happened to small shipments?"

Kaldur turned to look where the ice-covered teenager was looking and couldn't help the way his eyebrows rose in surprise. There were massive boxes being transported, large enough to require a crane and fragile enough that the movers were tripping over themselves to get the fragile sticker lathered boxes safely to the ground. It was certainly not the small pouches of Venom they had been expecting.

Maser arched a brow, "And we're supposed to take the merchandise? This thing got a crane?"

Rocket grinned easily, sharp and wild, "I'm sure my shields can do the trick."

Tilting his head to the side, Maser decided, "Yes, they probably would." He paused for a second before announcing, "You're pretty handy." He sent her an easy grin. It obviously surprised Rocket, but she sent a grin back, albeit a shakier, more confused one.

Kaldur pulled the conversation back on track, "Regardless, the plan remains the same. We all have our comms linked to each other. Only speak when you have finished a job or if you find yourself in trouble. Prepare for landing." It was basically the same speech that he gave every mission when they were leaving the bioship. Kaldur had gotten used to his regular range of responses. It was disconcerting to see new reactions and movements in response to his words. It was not bad; it was the same thing they went through every time the Team gained a new member. It would take some getting used to, but Kaldur was not opposed to it.

The bioship touched down.

The battle was wildly chaotic. The Team had members whose abilities made for bright colors and bursts of different textures, but not so many at the same time. M'gann caused various objects to float. Rocket had her blue spheres. Zatanna's magic could sometimes become bright and loud. This time, though, there were beams of ice shooting through the air, glare ground sparkling beneath them. Electric yellow steaks and blue sparks echoed off and around Maser, his entire form shifting into the brightly colored lights for brief moments. Jinx's hands lit up in a pink aura, the color transferring to the target of her abilities. Firehawk's brilliant white flames lit up the remaining areas.

The lights and sparks and ice were distracting, new noises and sounds and  _chaos_ that Kaldur had been unable to imagine on a battle scene. He could only imagine what the full Circus would look like facing someone in a fight. It would certainly be an impressive battle, sounds and sights reminiscent of an action film.

It was also, unfortunately, counterproductive towards the Team's overall goal: covert actions. The Circus's abilities had the potential to attract a lot of attention. It was directly opposite what the Team members aimed for. That was frustrating, but currently unavoidable. It would take a lot of training to fix that problem. Honestly, it was a miracle that the Circus hadn't been caught yet.

Overall, though, the battle went smoothly. The Team members and the Circus members both occasionally lost focus due to sights and sounds and actions that they hadn't been prepared for. Kaldur saw Firehawk jerk back and almost overbalance when one of Artemis's arrows (shot true and directly to intercept the man sneaking through the rafters towards Firehawk) flew closer to her than she had been prepared for. The looks they had sent each other had been nothing short of acidic, but they, thankfully, had been mature and experienced enough to get back into the fight without causing problems among themselves in the midst of battle. Thank goodness for small mercies, as Roy would say.

The only snag in the experience that they hit was afterwards. Raquel had taken the large boxes and cocooned them in her spheres, concentration only on them as the bioship pulled away, drug dealers secured and awaiting local police.

Firehawk snarled at Artemis, "Were you  _aiming_ for my face?"

Artemis rolled her eyes, sneering, "If I'd been aiming for your face, I would have hit it. Unlike you. It took you two or three tries to hit any of the people you aimed for. And you can control the path of your flames after you shoot them. That's impressively bad."

A bitter chuckle came from Firehawk as her chest puffed out, flames flaring brightly for a moment, "I  _guarantee_  you that I'm doing this better than you ever would have been able to."

"Trust me, I wouldn't have wanted to do it anyways. I rather like not turning into a monster every time I want to kill some people." Artemis hissed, hand clenched over her bow.

Surprisingly, it was Icicle who stepped in first, beating Kaldur by a fraction of a second. His voice was low and tense, "Firehawk. Transform back. Now."

"She's still got her hand on her bow! Why should I have to let go of my weapon when she won't let go of hers?" Firehawk asked, turning on her own teammate. Kaldur watched as Artemis's grip on the bow loosened, an expression of pure confusion on her face as she watched Icicle fight for her.

Icicle's voice was still calm and even when he responded, "Her weapon is a whole lot harder to accidentally hit a bystander with. Besides, you know the rules: no hurting a teammate with your powers. She's your teammate now. Act like it."

"Again, why do  _I_  have to when she won't? She's been rude and obnoxious towards us this entire time! It's quite frankly disturbing how many times she's managed to insult us in the day she's known us! Why do I have to be the mature one when she's acting like this?" Firehawk snapped, obviously furious.

"As far as I see," Icicle said, his own kind of cold fury leaking through his words, "Artemis  _has_  been the mature one. That shot she took? It took out a person behind you. This argument?  _You_  were the one that started it, going at her for helping you. The weapon thing? She didn't grab her weapon until you flared up at her. She thinks of us as criminals. She's understandably threatened. Transform. Back. Now."

Firehawk's yellowish-orange chin clenched angrily for a second before it loosened, skin gently shifting back to a calmer tanned color, hair falling around her shoulders in easy auburn waves. She glowered at Icicle, stalking back to her seat and sitting there, fuming. It was obvious that she was furious that Icicle had sided with a human over her – and for good reason, too. Kaldur wasn't sure why Icicle would pick a Team member over his own. Did he really believe that strongly that Firehawk was in the wrong? Even Kaldur wasn't that convinced of Firehawk's faults. Artemis had been baiting the Circus members since they had met. It was only a matter of time before one of them snapped. Kaldur was just glad that they hadn't snapped on a mission.

Conner's quiet voice brought him to Kaldur's attention, "Icicle and Firehawk are talking to each other. Do you want to hear what they're saying?"

On the one hand, he really shouldn't breach their privacy like this. On the other hand, he needed to know as much about his team as he possibly could. He needed to know how they ticked. He nodded to Conner, who started narrating the Circus members' conversation.

Firehawk hissed, "Why did you side with  _her_? Are you  _trying_ to humiliate me in front of them?"

Icicle sighed, "Fire, you  _know_  what our fearless leader said.  _Don't_  antagonize the Team. They're doing us a favor by letting us work with them. They could get in a lot of trouble for colluding with 'terrorists.' Besides, we're trying to show that metas  _aren't_  what they're made out to be. Remember that part? Confrontations and irritable attitudes immediately disprove what we're trying to show. This is our  _only_  chance at changing the hero community's view of metas."

"Yeah, well  _Artemis_  isn't changing her mind any time soon." Firehawk threw back.

There was a frown in Icicle's voice when he finally responded, "People who feel that strongly about metas have often had a bad experience with metas. We just have to show her that the bad ones aren't the only ones. I have faith. She really did save your life today."

Firehawk let out a little huff of breath, voice strained when she said, "So she has one good mark for her. Congratulations." She paused for a long moment, neither metahuman speaking. Then she spoke again, voice slightly nervous, "Are you… you going to tell Supersonic about this?"

"Of course," came the immediate response from Icicle.

Firehawk sighed, slumping in her chair, voice slightly louder, "He's going to kill me. I didn't even go through the proper argument process."

"The… what?" Raquel asked, having been sitting close enough to hear them when Firehawk became louder. Her voice drew the attention of the rest of the occupants of the bioship.

Blushing underneath her domino mask, Firehawk explained, "Supersonic does his best to make sure that everyone's on the same page and not upset with each other or anything. If you want to have it out with someone, keep it to yourself until you're back at base. Then, tell Supersonic that you're upset with someone. He'll get you and that person, hear out each of your stories individually, and then let us have it out with each other while he's sitting there. He butts in if he thinks the argument is getting dangerous or whatever. Obviously, it doesn't always work because it takes a lot of willpower to keep somethings inside, but it's helpful most of the time. I guess."

Kaldur thought about it. That did seem like a useful technique, but, "Does Supersonic have training to deal with the emotional confrontations of teammates?"

Maser's face scrunched up behind them all, "Not really, no. Black Canary has some knowledge about that kind of stuff, but it's not super concrete. She taught him everything she knew, though. I think he's read some books about it." Maser shrugged.

Icicle pitched in, "And most of the problems are pretty superficial – the normal kinds of problems that come from a group of people suddenly starting to live together. Nothing that can't be fixed through some legitimate communication. The really big problems that people have are more individual problems than problems with another person."

Raquel smiled, going for friendly, "I respect you guys for being able to live together like that. Zatanna, Miss Martian, and Superboy all live together at HQ, but that's still only three of them. Although, Aqualad stays there quite often too, don't you Aqualad?"

Kaldur nodded back, a small smile for the newer hero, "Yes. Most of the time it is easier to stay at headquarters than to return to different lodgings every night."

Icicle sent them a friendly smile back, "It's not so bad after a while. It can actually be pretty convenient. I mean, sometimes it gets to the point that I can't stand the sight of my teammates, but it all works out in the end. The worst is safehouses. In our main base, we've got the space for each of us to have our own rooms, but not a lot of innocuous houses have enough rooms for all of us. Sharing with each other can get kind of irritating. I mean, Supersonic is the best, but sharing a room with him is  _not_  fun. He's a slob, first of all. And a  _hoarder_. He snores, too. It's awful." His last few comments elicited a startled laugh out of Artemis, who looks around in horrified shock as if her body had horribly betrayed her.

There was a pause as the entire team blinked at her in shock. It was not long before they were all laughing, even Artemis laughing slightly, hand covering her mouth and chuckled shaking her shoulders.

Glancing around at the group, Kaldur smiled to himself. This really had a chance of working.


	10. Chapter 10

KKKKKK

Kaldur had not been prepared for the sight that greeted him when he and his team returned to the new headquarters.

There had been sounds of shouting and clattering from the kitchen that had sent Kaldur and his team hurtling towards the room, ready to stave off any potential fight. What they ran into was… not exactly a fight. From what Kaldur could see, it was an eating competition.

Almost everyone from Supersonic's team was present, Black Canary being the only one missing. Supersonic himself was leaning up against the far doorway, eyes sharp on the group, something halfway between a frown and pursed lips decorating his face. His head was tilted to the side, a hand pressing up against the ear of his cowl, probably listening to a comms device. He was the only one who wasn't directly involved in the competition.

Kaldur could see M'gann and Zatanna working furiously to cook or prepare various items, spinning around each other and cheering whenever they got a chance. Robin was sitting on one side of the table, furiously scribbling notes onto a small notepad lying in front of him. Across from Robin was Roy, Ballistic, and Changeling. They were shoveling food into their mouths, Ballistic and Changeling attempting to sabotage each other through by means of elbowing and spewing rude comments. Roy was just trying to keep up with their enormous appetites.

Behind Kaldur, Raquel's mouth was draped open, eyes wide and disbelieving. Conner blinked at them all for a long moment. Artemis looked properly scandalized. Jinx made a quiet barfing noise before turning around and leaving the room. Maser shrugged before going to help the girls by bringing the prepared items over to the trio of boys. Firehawk sighed and pinched her nose before settling near Robin and cheering for Changeling. Ballistic gave her an affronted look. Icicle looked delighted, "Is this an eating competition? Is it too late to join? Can I join? Do I get any of this food?"

"I'm not even participating, and I can tell it's too late to join," Firehawk sighed again.

"Still doesn't tell me if I get any of this food!" Icicle announced cheerfully. Raquel reluctantly chuckled behind them.

A loud cheer went up around the room as Roy stuffed an entire jumbo-sized muffin in his mouth. Kaldur felt vaguely ill watching him. He murmured, mainly to himself, "I do not understand how this happened."

Robin glanced up, grinning brightly at him and cackling, "We came back from the mission and decided we were hungry. Ballistic and Changeling were arguing over who could eat more in one sitting. Red Arrow decided he was actually the one that could eat the most. Miss Martian offered to help them test it. It all kind of devolved from there."

"Why am I not surprise?" Firehawk muttered, propping her chin on one hand.

Supersonic glanced up, doing a momentary doubletake, presumably at in the increase in people in the room. His head moved from side to side, probably checking over his people. Kaldur was glad that there were no injuries among his team on this first mission. He wanted to avoid injuries for as long as possible. Supersonic's gaze landed on Icicle and he tilted his head upwards, apparently beckoning Icicle over to him. Icicle responded instantly, moving to lean against the wall next to him. Kaldur moved over to stand next to them.

Both metahumans gave him a considering glance before looking back to each other. Icicle seemed to shrug before they both shifted slightly, moving to obviously include Kaldur in the conversation. Supersonic said, "Black Canary is with the Blood Pack – the meta group that the Light was trying to pick up, - and-,"

Icicle cut him off, "Wait, that's the group that tried to recruit Ballistic when they all became metas, right?"

Supersonic nodded and Kaldur had to ask, "Why would Ballistic not join them? I mean, why join your group, but not theirs?"

"He wanted to turn himself in to the Collection Agency," Supersonic answered simply, moving on before Kaldur could ask any more questions, "She's also with the Light metas that were sent to help test the Blood Pack. From what she's getting from both the Blood Pack and what Light metas are willing to talk about Light matters, the meta population of the Light has gotten even bigger than we thought. We're looking at upwards of seventy metas. I don't even know where they're grabbing them all. One of the ones we captured said that about thirty or forty of them are from Bialya. Queen Bee's apparently been hoarding the 'special ones' and training them for this. They just joined up. Then there were the twenty or thirty that we saw we were keeping track of that got pulled into the Light. Our spy said that about fifteen joined up at once, some sort of underground group in Australia that we hadn't heard of. I looked into them a little bit and it seems like they've been operational for about a year longer than we have. I don't really know much else about them yet. I'll try to do some more digging later on."

Kaldur interjected there, "Perhaps we could work together for that. Robin is an excellent information gatherer. I am sure that he would be able to find useful information for you."

"For us," Supersonic commented, a glimmer of a smile crossing his lips.

Kaldur nodded his head towards his co-leader, "Yes. For us."

Icicle pulled them back onto topic, "Any other new info?"

Supersonic wrinkled his nose slightly, "Not really. There's some grumblings about a new warden at Belle Reeve, but it's not from super reliable sources. If only they locked metas in there for crimes instead of bringing them to camps. You want to try to get some more info on that?"

The grimace that Icicle pulled was intense. He sighed angrily, "I hate dealing with Belle Reeve stuff."

He got a sympathetic look back from Supersonic, who patted his shoulder, "Yeah, I know. But you're our best connection."

"I know, I know. You don't have to tell me. I'll do it tomorrow or something. I am  _not_  dealing with that tonight." Icicle sighed again, shoulders slumping. Supersonic patted him on the shoulder again. Kaldur took all of it in.

After a moment, he questioned curiously, "If I may ask, how are you getting information out of the metahumans that were captured?"

Supersonic glanced to him with surprise, "We're just asking. If they don't want to tell, we don't push. We work with what we can get from just asking. I mean, they're pretty willing to help us out. The Blood Pack even surrendered willingly."

"They did?" Kaldur asked. He had never heard of metahumans surrendering willingly before. He wanted to ask where they were, what methods were employed to keep them from trying to join the Light again. He had a feeling, however, that those were questions that the Circus would not be willing to answer.

Kaldur was sent another cursory glance before Supersonic shrugged, "We should probably run each of our mission reports by each other at some point tonight, talk stuff over. I'd say wait until tomorrow, but it's probably good to go over it while it's still fresh. I've got comments from each of my team members about the mission, so I won't need mine there for that discussion."

Nodding, Kaldur answered, "I received mission commentary from each member of my team during the flight back to headquarters. I, also, will not need my team members for this discussion."

"Awesome. Want to go do that now?" Supersonic asked. He didn't give Kaldur a chance to answer before he put a finger up, pressing his hand back against his comms, "What was that, BC?" He paused, listening to her speak before frowning, rubbing his forehead, "Yeah, okay. I'll come deal with that. I… yeah. No, that's – yeah. I'll send the team off to get settled in, talk to Aqualad about the missions, head over, deal with the problem, then bring the both of us back here. You good staying there for that long? The problem's not going to get that bad that quickly, right?" He listened for a moment longer before sighing, "Yep, no problem. See you in a little bit."

Icicle raise an eyebrow at his leader, "Were you planning to sleep at any point in that process?"

Supersonic pointed to himself, "Speedster, remember? King of cat naps!"

Icicle rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Try to sleep at some point. Please?"

"I always try. It's whether other people will let me," Wally snarked, expression lighter than Kaldur had seen it at any other point in their alliance. Icicle just rolled his eyes again and wandered over to where the eating competition was slowing down, Changeling's head lolling back against the chair as he let one hand drape over his stomach, a vaguely glazed expression over his face, defeat admitted.

Ballistic and Roy were definitely slowing down, food starting to pile in front of them as they stopped being able to eat much more. After about three more minutes of watching the two of them gorge themselves, they put down the sandwiches they were holding at the same time. Artemis asked archly, "Tie?"

"Nope!" Robin announced proudly, "That's what I've been keeping score for! Just because they stopped eating at the same time doesn't mean that they ate the same amount. It was really, really close, though. Red Arrow beat out Ballistic by three muffins." He was filled with entirely too much glee, an unholy expression of joy on his face.

Roy actually stood up, hands in the air victoriously while everyone clapped in the background. The clapping picked up with Ballistic's thunderous claps, cheers and hollers being tossed around as Roy preened, strutting around the room. A lot of the team members were smiling, laughter mixed with their clapping.

Glancing to the side, Kaldur was struck by the expression on Supersonic's face. He was painfully hopeful, expression broken in a way that Kaldur had rarely seen before. There was something infinitely strong in the broken steel window panes of Supersonic's eyes, something infinitely fragile in the shattered glass of the windows. Kaldur did not know what it was that Supersonic saw in the scene – it was certainly relieving to see that the two teams could act together as a team, but this was in a post-successful-mission high and not an accurate representation of what their alliance would look like in the future, - but Supersonic obviously believed it to be hopelessly beautiful. Kaldur wished he could know what Supersonic saw, wished he could  _see_ it. At the same time, he was not certain that he would ever truly understand, even if Supersonic explained.

In the end, it was Icicle who broke the moment, clapping loudly and calling out, "Alright, alright. We've got stuff to do. I don't know what the Team usually does post-mission, but Circus guys? You know what to do. Check-up, then write up the official mission reports, then start unpacking. It's been a long day and we need some sleep." The Circus members grumbled among themselves, but they acquiesced, heading off in a direction vaguely reminiscent of the med-bay. Taking pity on them, M'gann and Conner moved to join the group, pointing them in the correct direction and offering to lead them there.

As they were leaving the room, Changeling called out behind him, "Hey leader! You coming?"

"Nah, I've got other stuff to do. You guys will probably be asleep by the time I get back, so goodnight!" Supersonic called back, the painful hope gone, the weariness returned, settling around his shoulders like a familiar jacket.

Ballistic spread his massive hands out, shaking his head towards Supersonic, "You're the only one on our team who got hurt and you're the only one who gets to skip medical. How's this fair?"

Icicle's eyes narrowed, and he whipped around, "You  _what_?"

Supersonic rolled his eyes, "Speed healing? Anyone remember this integral part of my DNA? It was just a little concussion. I just needed a half an hour and then I was good to run all the metas and run everyone back here. It's fine!"

Icicle's hands flew up in the air, "Last time you need  _an entire half of an hour_  to recover from a concussion, the doctor said that the concussion was bad enough to have been  _cripplingly debilitating_  for  _several weeks_  on a normal person!"

Jinx snorted, studying her nails, "Yeah, but he doesn't have a brain to damage, so it's not like we need to be worried."

Growling, Icicle stalked back over to Supersonic, stabbing him in the chest with his finger, "Wake me up when you get back. I'm checking you over in medical. Got it?"

"Got it," Supersonic replied dutifully. Icicle met his eyes for a long moment, the two of them passing on more information than Kaldur could ever rightly understand. Even the other metahumans seemed curious, glancing between them in obvious confusion. Icicle suddenly deflated, shaking his head and stalking back to the head of the group, following M'gann and Conner to the med bay.

Supersonic quirked his lips up at his retreating team, turning to Kaldur, "Let's get this show on the road, then." Kaldur nodded back.

He then nodded to the rest of the Team, signaling to them that it was alright and that he wished them a goodnight as well. He knew that Roy and Dick would most likely wait up for him to try to get information about the meeting, but Kaldur ignored that for the moment, focusing on his co-leader.

The two of them made their way to one of the empty conference rooms, sitting across from each other, hands folded, and stares locked. It was unnerving to be this close to someone, to run a  _team_ with someone and not even know their name. Kaldur could not even tell the color of Supersonic's eyes through his tinted goggles. He felt laid bare compared to the secretive metahuman in front of him.

Supersonic spoke seriously, "You want to go first, or me?"

"I will go," Kaldur answered swiftly, bringing himself back into the moment. He went into detail about the mission, highlighting the problems he had observed, "The main issue I see with our teams fighting together is that the Circus members have… a different energy. Their abilities are brighter and louder and more obvious than a lot of the Team's weapons of choice. As a covert operations group, this is not only counterproductive, but also distracting. The Team members, myself included, were not prepared for such intense battle. There were several times where I made mistakes that I should not have due to a burst of color or light that I had not been prepared for."

"Okay, I get that. I know I was startled when Zatanna started up a miniature snowstorm. And, of course, there will always be things that will surprise us, from both sides. Not everyone lays out all of their abilities and tricks through training. I'm sure that most of us have tricks that we didn't even know we had. But, the usual abilities and their appearance can definitely be worked on. That's more of a repetition thing. And, unfortunately, a description of our powers thing. I'm sure that you guys don't want us knowing a lot about what you can do and how you can do it. I know I don't want you guys to know that about us. But… at some point, we're going to have to have that conversation," Supersonic said seriously, shoulders slumping slightly even at the thought.

Kaldur nodded back, just as seriously, "Speaking of training, we were initially told that we were not allowed to train with you without one of the adult superheroes supervising us. Red Arrow convinced the Justice League that he was a suitable adult supervisor, so we will be able to train. In the next week, the… - Robin dubbed them 'den mothers' – the den mothers will be arriving. As we told you, we typically have two den mothers. Red Tornado, who lives at headquarters with us, and Wonder Woman, who trains us. Due to the decreased lack of security in this location, the Justice League decided that it would be prudent to add Green Lantern as a semi-permanent den mother."

Supersonic's eyes narrowed at Kaldur, but he did not end up fighting the admission, instead just shrugging and responding, "I can see where they're coming from. So, three adult heroes who are around semi-regularly or regularly. I'll let the Circus members know. Although, at some point I should probably have a conversation with the League members who are in charge. Especially Batman or whoever's in charge of assigning you missions. I'll figure that out tomorrow. Was there anything else you noticed during the mission?"

Tilting his head to the side, Kaldur thought of the points he wanted to bring up, "There were two other things: I believe that the two of us should, at a later date, discuss Artemis's reluctance towards this alliance between us and then bring the conversation to her. It would be prudent to address the root of her issues. Additionally, Icicle spoke of the system you implemented to deal with arguments. I feel that such a system would be beneficial to this team as a whole. If we could find a way to implement that here, it would be very helpful."

"Okay, we can do that. Both of those things. The thing with Artemis is going to be touchy, though. You sure you want me there for that?" Supersonic asked, the corners of his lips tilting down.

Kaldur nodded, "Of course. We are co-leaders of this team and the team should start seeing us as such."

Supersonic watched him for a moment, eyes sharp behind the goggles, "Alright. We'll talk about that tomorrow, too."

After a moment's pause, Kaldur prompted, "And your own mission?"

Supersonic gave run-down of the mission he went on, pulling out all the important details before talking about the issues, "The first thing I noticed was that we must have different ways of coming up with plans or whatever. I'm guessing that you come up with the plan and just tell them the plan? Because that's not how I typically do it. We normally come up with a plan together. If we need a plan and don't have time to come up with it together, then I'll just tell them what to do, but that doesn't happen so often. Um, what else was it? Training, like you said. They worked well out in the field, but they were working around each other and not with each other. We could have dealt with that a whole lot faster if we'd been working with each other. Let's see… we really need to address the killing thing. I made the threat of it earlier today and it definitely made your guys squeamish, which is understandable. Then… the only other thing was apprehended criminals. At the end, I wanted to take the metas and leave the assassins for you guys and your team wasn't entirely certain about just letting us have the metas. They don't know where I'm bringing them or what I'm doing with them. At the same time, I won't let you guys take the metas. So, we just need to clear that up. And if that's something I need to address with the Justice League members, just let me know."

Taking a moment, Kaldur processed all of that information, running Supersonic's words through his head. All of that was understandable and genuine causes for concern. There were a lot of things that were not spoken about in the initial meeting. They would need to be addressed at later dates. For now, this was all they could do. Find problems when they occur and deal with them accordingly.

Hesitantly, carefully, Kaldur asked, "Where do you take the metahumans you capture?"

Supersonic's tired, considering expression shut down, leaving the blank,  _dangerous_  countenance he'd worn when the Team had tried to push him about the spy, "I'm sorry, but that's a question I won't answer."

"The League members will ask," Kaldur warned carefully.

"I know," Supersonic sighed, dropping his shoulders briefly, "I know that they'll ask, but that's something they're not going to get."

Kaldur's voice was sad, sympathetic when he responded, "That is not always something you get to choose."

"But for now, I can choose it, and I will," Supersonic said resolutely. His eyes met Kaldur's through the tinted goggles for a brief moment, "You have more questions."

A sardonic smile crossed both their lips before Kaldur ducked his head, "Surely none that you would answer."

"Doesn't hurt to try," Supersonic shrugged.

Kaldur hesitated briefly before decided that it really would not hurt to try, "Will we ever learn of your identities? It will become trying to always have your masks on, to rarely be able to call each other by name."

Supersonic's lips twitched and he sighed again, "I guess that one's on more of a person to person basis. I didn't necessarily give them an order to keep their identities hidden. They chose to. I guess it's easier for you guys too. If you don't know who we are… I don't know. It's easier when you can't see what camp we left, what life we had before all this."

Kaldur wanted to ask if Supersonic ever thought about going back to the life he had before becoming a metahuman, wanted to ask how long he had been a metahuman, wanted to ask what his life was like before. He knew they would not be answered, so he asked a different question, "Was there anything you wished to ask of me?"

Nose wrinkled, Supersonic said, "Actually, I do have something. Well, it's less of a question and more of a favor?" Kaldur nodded for him to continue and Supersonic finished, "Jinx was wondering if Zatanna could teach her magic. Jinx is kind of like our resident magic-user or whatever, but she wants to know how to do magic like Zatanna does."

Kaldur blinked. He had not been expecting that request. After a pause, he said, "I am sure that can be arranged. I will speak to Zatanna about it in the morning. I will tell you as soon as I know."

"Awesome," Supersonic said, any remaining tension easing from his shoulders, "Anything else?"

"I do not believe so," Kaldur responded, watching as Supersonic visibly pulled himself together, getting ready to go deal with an entirely different host of problems. Kaldur smiled gently at him, "Good luck."

Supersonic's eyes flicked up to him, "Thanks." He nodded to Kaldur and then was gone, nothing but a few sparks and a blast of wind to show that he was even there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I told you guys that this fic was inspired by the book series 'The Darkest Minds' by Alexandra Bracken, right? Well, the movie based off of the first book of that trilogy came out in theaters yesterday, so if you want to watch the movie (which is remarkably similar to the book; there are just a few parts from the book that didn't make it into the movie) to get a better understanding of where I'm coming from with my inspiration, I highly recommend it. I just watched it today and loved it.


	11. Chapter 11

WWWWWW

That had gone better than expected, Wally thought to himself as he ran towards the meta city. He'd expected a flurry of problems, accusations leveled at his teammates, etc. He hadn't been expecting a calm, clear, concise description of what had occurred and what Aqualad thought should be done about. He certainly wasn't complaining, but… well, it was nice to know that some teenagers had some level of maturity. Then again, Aqualad was an aide or helper or partner or whatever to Aquaman, who was a king. In the end, it really wasn't all that surprising that he was mature beyond his years and practiced in the art of communication.

Just wait until he found out how immature Wally could be. It didn't come out often, but Wally could be just as immature as the next teenage boy. At the moment, he was too exhausted, stressed, and high strung to even attempt to be immature. All of the research he'd been doing into the Light mixed with the work he'd been putting into setting up this alliance made it pretty hard for him to have the energy for anything that wasn't necessary. Plus, he wasn't anywhere near comfortable with the Team and wouldn't try anything until he'd gotten to know them better, if he ever got to that point.

Wally shook his head, altering his course a little bit. He'd angled a little bit to the wrong side while thinking and was now a little bit off course. That was honestly more of a struggle than it should have been. Also, like, a serious problem. People didn't seem to realize how far you could get off course by shifting just a couple of degrees when you were traveling as fast and as far as he was. From what he'd read and learned from Harold, airplanes were the same way. He didn't know how true that was, but Harold was something of an airplane fanatic, so he'd take the kid's word for it.

He really needed to stop getting distracted.

Focusing again, Wally caught himself and corrected his path. Luckily, he hadn't gotten too far out. He really was rather anxious to get to the city. The problem that Dinah had found wasn't irreparable, but it wasn't the best thing to have happened either. It might also take longer than Wally would have liked to deal with. If things were as bad as Dinah said, then there was a good chance that he'd have to run Dinah back to the new headquarters (which was seriously inconvenient; they couldn't have picked a more centrally located city? Now Wally had to run from Canada to Louisiana every time he wanted to check up on the city) and spend his own night at the city.

The problem was, in the end, relatively simple (the solution, not so much). A stranger had found their way into the city. Simple problem: random person goes where they're not supposed to. Difficult solution: how did they find the city? Were they looking for it? Metahuman or normal human? Or something else? Were they working for the Light? Was Wally's spy compromised? Who were they working for? Where are they from? Did they have abilities?

The person had apparently allowed themselves to be captured quietly and without any sort of fanfare, no fighting back and no fighting words. The only resistance they'd shown was refusing to speak and refusing to receive the blood test that would determine whether they were meta or human.

It was strange. And coming from the speedster founder of a metahuman safe haven city protected by technology given to them by super-intelligent gorillas, that was saying something.

Once Wally reached the town, it wasn't all that hard to find the rehabilitation center (also known as the prison, but they tried not to call it that when they could avoid it). It was a relatively large building with a lot of really bright and large signs proclaiming that it was an ability dead-zone. A lot of people got understandably touchy when their powers dropped off, so they were all really good about letting people know where the dead-zones were.

Wally zipped up to the gate, forced to a normal human walk about five feet away. The guard nodded to him, pulling up the biometrics scan and password screen. For all that powers were nullified there, Wally had no doubt that some government somewhere had the ability to mimic a person's appearance with the aid of technology. He was not going to take that risk with a bunch of metas who were trying to get themselves on the straight and narrow, who were trying to start over in a place where they could finally just be.

After Wally was verified, he kept walking through the courtyard, nodding to people as he passed them. He received nods and some smiles in return. He wasn't the leader of the city, not really. He was kind of a like the last line of defense? Basically, he signed off on everything and made the decision himself when the local government couldn't agree on it. Someone had told him once what kind of government that was, but he hadn't paid enough attention and it wasn't like he'd gotten that far in school. And government wasn't exactly a thrilling topic to him, either. That was more of Cameron's area. He enjoyed watching political news far too much in Wally's opinion.

He really needed to get his head on straight. Wally's thoughts were going off the rail, spiraling every which way. Probably a mix of stress, tiredness, and lingering traces of a concussion. Yeah, that probably made sense. Maybe a healthy dose of shocked horror at the amount of food those three had managed to inhale after their mission.

Wally pulled to a stop in front of a fortified door. He repeated his biometric scan and password check (with a different password for inside the building; just in case) and entered the room. Dinah nodded to him, towering behind what seemed to be a teenager, maybe young adult.

He was certainly stacked like an adult would be. Wally couldn't imagine a kid getting those muscles through regular means.

The intruder was kind of thuggish in appearance. His ash blonde hair was short on the sides, long on top, a thin stripe of skin splitting the two lengths. The sleeves of his white, tattered shirt were cut off, thin red overall straps pulled on purely for appearance's sake. There was a chain looped into a big lock hung around the intruder's neck. His fingerless gloves and studded, black pants only added to his obvious 'bad-boy' vibe. Add on the giant muscles and the sneering sort of scowl, and Wally was effectively intimidated. He would not want to go against that in a fight.

In the end, it was the time Wally spent observing the intruder's overall image and not the man's body language that would cost him. That, and slight arrogance on the part of metahumans.

See, metahumans understood that humans were powerful in their own right. They had been humans at one point, were basically the same as humans. Despite that, their restraints for humans were quite lacking. Metahuman restraints and counteractive mechanisms? Perfect. They had predictions within predictions. Any possible mishap including the abilities of the metahumans that they had seen or heard of were prepared for. They had safety protocols for things that most people wouldn't even believe possible. When it came to safety precautions for humans or metas with their powers dampened? Not so much. Their handcuffs were strong, electrical, and supposedly pick-proof, but that was about the extent of their security.

Still, though, that did not mean that a human should be able to  _break the cuffs_  by  _flexing his arms and legs_. Wally gaped at the man – the metahuman; he had to be with that much raw strength, no human could do  _that_  – who had just crushed the only restraints locking him in. The man's first action was to lunge at Wally.

Wally couldn't evade. He could see the punch coming towards him, muscles rippling almost in slow motion, intense concentration on the man's face, a few stray bits of tech flinging themselves from the overly thick wrist swinging itself towards Wally's face. He saw the punch, knew every step he could take to avoid it, knew exactly what to do, when to move, how to move. His body just wasn't fast enough.

For some reason that Wally had never been able to explain, the power dampeners had never been able to slow down his brain. There was no rhyme or reason to it, but Wally didn't usually mind; it gave him an edge in interrogations or battles of wits in the rehabilitation center. This, however, was a moment when he definitely minded. His mind picked apart every movement, every counter, and screamed at his body to  _move_ , to  _duck_ , to  _dodge_. And his body just… couldn't. It wasn't fast enough. He wasn't fast enough.

The fist connected to his nose in a truly fantastic fashion. Wally could hear the echoing snap even as his body twirled around with the fist, crashing to the ground. Luckily, he'd been able to angle himself just the slightest in that brief moment he'd watched the fist coming towards him. If Wally hadn't moved his head slightly to the side, the stranger would have broken his nose and shoved the shards up into his brain.

That was an assassination attempt.

Wally gasped through the blood coating his throat and dripping down onto the floor, gasped through the pain and black spots that clouded every aspect of his sight. He coughed and scooted back as fast as he could. Not fast enough – never fast enough.

The man jumped, leapt over the distance Wally had desperately traversed, moved over the space as if there was no space there. He landed directly on Wally's midsection, ribs crunching underneath his heavy combat boots. Wally's desperate coughs cut off with a high whine as the broken ribs definitely hit something they weren't supposed to hit.

There was no chance to gain his bearings (not that he thought he could while surrounded by so much pain, blood still clogging his throat and ribs tightened like rope around his lungs) before the stranger bent down, gripping Wally around the throat and throwing him against the wall. The man was there an instant later, having jumped over the distance again, grabbing Wally's throat and squeezing. There was an inhuman glee in the man's eyes as he slowly squeezed Wally's throat, cutting off any slight chance at Wally breathing. Every jagged attempt at air sent sharp pains from both his nose and his midsection.

Some vague part of his mind was noting the rest of the room. They had leapt into action after the first blow, but their actions were evidently useless. He could see the guards with tranquilizer darts that bounced harmlessly off the stranger's skin. He could see Dinah flinging herself at the enemy, complex and powerful moves useless against hard muscle and preternatural invulnerability.

The sights of the others fighting for him faded away, sharp lines blurring and bright colors dulling. Wally's hands scrabbled for purchase, trying to find something,  _anything_  to escape this situation. He found nothing.

What a stupid way to die, he thought to himself. Some random douchebag gets him right when he finally got an alliance and had seen something that actually gave him hope for a future of acceptance? Not fair.

Not that anything in Wally's life had been fair. He really should have been used to it. That didn't make it easier to accept the fact that he was dying a lame death miles away from the majority of his team.

No. No! This was not the way he was going to go. This was not how it worked. Sure, life hadn't been that fair to Wally, but he was  _done_  letting life do what it wanted to him. There was no such thing as destiny, or fate, or some deity who ruled over everything and chose what happened to him. He'd taken his life back and it was  _his_  to decide what to do with. And if he decided that he wasn't going to die in a prison, being choked by a stranger, then he  _wasn't_.

Determination doubled, Wally started bucking, kicking out and looking for a week spot (any weak spot,  _anything_  he could use). The man reacted with a cruel smile and an unfortunately placed kick. Wally's fingers twitched, and a piteous hiss came out in lieu of screaming when he felt his knee crack and bend back with the force of the kick. It seemed like the only thing his determination had gotten him was a broken leg and a darkly amused killer.

But, no. That wasn't it. The man had dropped a little of his weight to kick Wally and had overcompensated when he pulled back in. He was closer now than he had been before. That meant maybe (hopefully) Wally was close enough to…

Wally's hand pushed down, fingers laying just  _so_ , and the man dropped like a rock. Gotta love pressure points.

Unfortunately, the man dropping like a rock lead to Wally also being dropped like a rock. Directly onto his broken leg. He then fell onto his elbow before his strength gave out and his ribs smashed onto the elbow, his funny bone smarting against the tiled ground. His head smacked into the ground, sending flares of agony from his neck and nose (and everywhere else, but those were the momentary focal points).

Wally attempted harsh breaths, throat closed around his attempts to breath. There was still blood rushing down his nose and getting stuck in his throat, clumped and disgusting. Wally gagged on it, trying to get his bearings back through the haze of pain and adrenaline and confusion.

Soft, gentle hands pulled him back into himself. Dinah was murmuring over him, "It's okay, Wally. We've got you. It's okay. I'm going to pick you up and get you out of the dead-zone. Then we'll bring you to a hospital. They'll fix whatever the usual healing doesn't."

Gasping, Wally interrupted her panicked murmuring, voice scratchy and cutting out and not entirely there, "Intruder – new cuffs – don't let him – hurt – people."

Dinah snapped at someone behind her, "Get the promethium cuffs. I don't know what we'll cuff him to since he'd probably be able to break that too but try to figure something out. Everyone see the pressure point that Wally hit? Aim for that if he wakes up too soon. Try to figure out what happened."

Thank goodness for King Solovar's willingness to part with rare tech and precious metals for the strange group of metahumans who had come to him for aid. Without the promethium from Solovar, Wally could think of a few times where they would have been in serious trouble.

Wally felt himself fading, the world going back to the blurring and dulling it had been doing when the intruder had been choking the life out of Wally. He was jerked back into the moment when Dinah picked him up. It was obvious that she was warring between being careful so as to not permanently damage him before getting him out or being quick and trusting that his speed healing could deal with any added injuries.

As she flat out ran out of the prison, Wally knew that she had taken the latter approach. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that, honestly.

Either way, it was a moment of blessed relief when they stepped out of the dead-zone (Dinah still at a run headed towards the city's hospital) and Wally's powers came back online. The speed force racing through his veins was a welcome feeling, something like an old friend coming home. Wally's hands shook as the force zinged through his body, zipping up over his wounds and through his blood stream.

His very molecules shook as they sped up and his healing kicked in, skin doing it's best to knit itself back together, throat trying to re-inflate itself. Wally gasped desperately as air finally found its way back into his lungs, ribs protesting the action, but ignored in favor of blessed, pure air.

He coughed on it, choking on the very air that was saving him, body confused and cautious and in so much pain. Blinking back the water in his eyes, Wally leaned his head back against Dinah and let her run him to the hospital.

Thankfully, at this time of night, there weren't that many people still out and about to witness his horrid state. Unfortunately, the town was small and somewhat infatuated with it's teenaged somewhat-leader, which meant that news of his injury (and probably the source and exact time down to the seconds) would be spread through the city by early morning at the latest. Hopefully he'd be gone by then and wouldn't have to deal with too much coddling.

Wally hadn't even realized that the two of them had made it to the hospital until he was being gently lowered into a soft-feeling hospital bed. The doctor and nurse that came over both tutted at him, brusquely setting him into a good position on the bed and starting to check him over.

Still croaking (he wasn't sure if even a good night's sleep would erase the bruises from his throat or the break in his leg), Wally said, "Gotta get back to rehab center… Prisoner I need to talk to… right away."

The doctor's lips pursed, but she didn't bother arguing. Most people had learned by now that the Circus's main attack team had made escaping from medical attention somewhat of a competition. They were all notorious for their dislike of doctor's offices or medical wards.

As requested, the doctor's work was quick and precise. She floated bandages and wash clothes over Wally, performing multiple actions at once. She had to reset his nose, breaking it again and trying to lay it flat. The bone was wacked, though, curved up in a weird spot. Scowling, the doctor made Wally swear that he'd come back once he was done talking with the prisoner.

Finally, though, he was ready to leave. With, of course, the condition that he was either carried to the rehabilitation center or wheeled over. Sighing (or, at least, attempting to), Wally had agreed to the wheelchair, but urged Dinah to push it  _really quickly_. She rolled her eyes, but capitulated. Wally figured that she was just as curious about the intruder as he was.

In that vein, it didn't take them long to get back to the rehabilitation center. They went through the usual biometric scans and password checks until, finally, they were in a new room, promethium cuffs securing the intruder's arms and legs to each other, promethium chains wrapped tightly around his torso.

Thankfully, the man was awake and struggling against his bonds, so they wouldn't have to wait for him to wake up to start the interrogation.

One of the guards stepped over to Wally, young face careful and concerned. She'd been on a metahuman hunting force, angry at the world and angry at metas for killing her mother, for drawing her mother into the world of superheroes in the first place. It wasn't until a mandatory agency wide test revealed her to be one of the metahumans she hated that she finally started to see. She'd ran before anyone could get her, wandering around on her own before she'd been found by the Circus. Her name was Cameron Chase and her natural ability to negate the abilities of metahumans was incredibly useful inside a metahuman rehabilitation center. She gave him a small smile, "We've secured him as well as we could. I got a picture of him and brought it over to the other new metas you've brought it. One of the ones from the Light recognized him. Said his name was Tommy Terror, one of the so-called 'Terror Twins.' Super strength, invulnerability, and super leap? Those are the powers they knew of. He works for the Light. That was all they knew."

Wally swallowed harshly, waited for the burst of pain that accompanied the movement to die before asking, "Said anything?"

Chase winced at the gravel in Wally's voice, "He said a lot about how he was going to kill us and how he'd make us sorry. Never mentioned someone coming to rescue him."

"You said he was one of the Terror Twins, right?" Dinah asked, eyes narrowing, hand on her hip, head tilted to the side.

Chase nodded, "Yeah. You heard of them?"

"No," Dinah shook her head, "But I'm just a little curious. If I had a twin, I'd probably be boasting that my twin was going to come after me. Siblings, especially ones that work in teams, are notoriously protective of each other. And if they're called the Terror Twins, then I can assume that the twin has at least some powers, if not the same ones. Tommy should be yelling about how we'll be sorry when his twin shows up. He shouldn't be relying only on himself."

Wally's eyes widened in recognition of what Dinah was trying to say. He rolled himself into the room, ignoring the yelps of the two women behind him as they tried to get him to stop. Tommy sneered when he saw Wally, eyes going cold and hard. Wally, uncaring that it was the man in front of him that had damaged his voice to the point that he could barely speak, choked out, "Who has your – twin?"

Tommy  _snarled_ , whole body twitching against the restraints, muscles popping and straining against the promethium. Wally eyes the restraints warily, not entirely ready to trust cuffs again. When Tommy's anger produced no results, he slumped in his restraints, snarl still etched into his face, adding weight to his voice, "This's got  _nothing_  to do with li'l sis. You leave her out of this!"

It was the first time Wally had heard Tommy speak, and his voice was just as intimidating as the rest of them. He had a thick southern drawl and a low voice, lowered further by frustration and anger.

Expression loosening a little bit, Wally said calmly (painfully for him), "We can – help you. If the Light has – your sister, we can help – get her back and keep – both of you safe." Each pause was punctuated by a wince and a little gasp of breath as his throat failed him. It was well and truly crushed, having only been given a brief period of time to heal at his natural rate.

Tommy's scowl didn't lessen, "You can't do  _nothing_!  _I'll_  protect li'l sis! And if that means I've gotta kill you, then I'm gonna kill you!"

"I'd really rather you – didn't," Wally winced, hand involuntarily rising to his throat. After a second where Tommy just continued to stare at him with burning eyes, Wally continued, "We'll come back to – that. How – how did you use your powers inside of – a nullifier zone?"

Tommy sneered, "How do you think? The Light is smarter than you are! You think they can't work past this? They've promised a safe haven to metas, a new world where we actually matter! That means they work to make sure nothing can hurt us again! No Collection Agent is going to collar me and put me back into one of them camps! Never again! I'm a higher  _form_  of metahuman, one that won't be taken down by some useless  _human_!"

Wally's expression tightened, "You are – aware that the Light has at least – one human on their high council. A human who, in the – end, you take order from."

Tommy's expression crumpled into even further anger and he started straining against the bonds again, pulling and yanking and cutting into his own skin with the chains. Wally wheeled quickly out of the room, signaling for Chase to lock off the room and fill it with a mild sleeping gas. Just so he wouldn't hurt himself while he was in there. He might have tried to kill Wally, but he didn't want to see him get hurt.

Dinah was shaking her head in a strange mix of wonderment and horror, "A way to get past inhibitor collars and ability dead-zones. That's… that's  _crazy_. I can't even begin to imagine how they do that."

Wally swallowed, "The other Light metas? Were – were they… given the same thing?" His voice was giving out on him, exacerbated by the talking.

Chase frowned, "Not from what I could tell. It seemed like a few of them attempted to use their powers in here and weren't able to. Obviously, there's no way to tell whether they're tricking us or not. Some of them seemed genuinely helpful and willing to work with us, though. I don't know. We'll check it out, see what we can do. I'll get some people to ask around and find out if any of the new metas have even  _heard_ of this procedure, let alone been subjected to it."

"Good – work, Chase. Keep me – updated." Wally responded, unlocking the wheel on the bottom of the wheelchair and starting to wheel himself away.

Chase smiled at him as he passed her to get to the door, "No problem, Wally. Hope you get better." He treated her to a nod and an almost smile before Dinah took over the wheelchair and started wheeling him out of the facility.

Wally got that same rush of relief when his powers came back online. He sunk into the chair, leaning his head back. Dinah, incredibly gently, ruffled his hair, asking, "What's our next step? After the doctor, of course."

"Grab a – teleporter. Have them bring – bring us to the safe house in – Louisiana. I'll – run us home from – there," Wally gasped out, a headache starting to throb in time to the rest of his injuries. He resisted the urge to groan.

Wally could tell from the way Dinah's hands tightened around the handles of the wheelchair that she wasn't pleased with that plan of action, but she didn't say anything, so Wally didn't either. He didn't see what the big problem was. He'd be able to manage that little bit of a distance on a broken leg. Honestly. She was such a mother hen.

The doctor visit was, thankfully, short. The doctor pursed her lips and tutted at him and did everything she could to make him stay longer, but there really wasn't much he could do. An IV drip and rest in the hospital could both be supplemented at the headquarters where his team was, and medicine didn't work on him. She reluctantly allowed him to go, frown weighing down her features as the teleporter walked into the room, carefully grabbing Wally and Dinah, flashing them over to the Louisiana safe house.

Wally thanked the teleporter, waiting until he was already back in the city before he tried to move again. Gingerly, Wally stood himself up on one leg, one arm out for balance. He settled his other leg on the floor, making sure that it could hold his weight. Carefully, Wally walked around the room a little bit, testing out the strength of the leg. Yeah, he could do this.

Dinah was watching him worriedly, "We could just sleep here for the night and then head back in the morning."

"Cam told me to wake him up when I got back, which translates to he's going to stay awake all night waiting for me to get back. I don't want him to go without sleep. And you know I sleep better when I'm with the group," Wally reminded her.

She scowled, "Yes, I know all that. I just…" She steeled herself for a moment before finally admitting, "I was so worried when he grabbed you and there was nothing we could do to stop him. The doctor said that if I hadn't gotten you to a spot where you could self-heal like you do, you would have died."

Wally frowned, reaching out a hand to lightly touch Dinah's arm, "I know, and it means a lot that you were worried. I'm all good now. And you know that Cameron will mother hen me when we get back to the new HQ. It'll be fine!"

Dinah sighed, but didn't say anything in return. Instead, she looped her arms gingerly around Wally's neck, settling them lower than usual, almost around his shoulders. He pressed one arm against her back and the other under her knees, lifting and tilting a little bit at the same time so she swung up into his arms.

"Ready?" He asked her. Dinah nodded, tucking her face in towards her chest. She didn't dislike running with him, she just got a little dizzy if she watched everything passing by in a massive blur of color.

That was okay. Wally could look at the world for her. It was beautiful to him, when he ran. It was a world that only he could see.

It took him longer than he'd wanted to get back to the new headquarters, but that was alright. Better than tripping at several hundred miles per hour and dropping both of them. That was not a fun experience and not one that Wally ever planned on doing again.

They entered the building nearly silently, the door a whisper behind them, the alarms disarmed with quick password checks and biometric scans. The only loud noise they made was when Dinah dropped down from Wally's arms and onto the floor. And that noise was quite loud.

Dinah and Wally winced, giving each other apologetic grimaces as four sets of feet came pounding towards them. From one side (the one Wally vaguely recognized as being the living room area), Cameron flung himself around the corner, stopping as soon as he caught sight of Wally and Dinah. From the other side (the kitchen), Aqualad, Robin, and Red Arrow performed a similar action, their favored weapons clutched in their tight grips.

For a second, everyone relaxed, shoulders falling as they realized that there weren't any real threats around. It was then that Wally's appearance set in.

Cameron made an angry hissing sound, trying to keep his voice down as he cursed, lifting his hand like he wanted to smash it into a wall, "What  _happened_?"

Wally was tempted to give his brightest attempt at a smile to Cameron, just to screw with him, but he figured that he'd had enough choking for one day. Instead, he sent Cameron a placating glance and answered quietly, "The trouble that Black Canary found was, uh, not very pleased to see me."

Cameron spread his hands out, shaking his head, obviously still confused. He turned to Dinah for translation. She gave a put-upon sigh, "Assassination attempt."

Cameron threw his hands in the air, spinning around and cursing to himself again. Robin choked out, "A  _what_?"

Wally rolled his eyes, "She's being overly dramatic. I'm not important - enough for it to be considered - an assassination attempt. I believe the Light was just trying to take out the competition since - since I've stole so many of their metas - at this point."

"The  _Light_  did this? The Light was  _there_?" Cameron almost screeched, trying his best to keep his voice down as he made a strangled, wordless sound of frustration.

Red Arrow side-eyed Cameron worriedly, but then turned to Wally, "I'm sorry, where was it that the Light was at? And what is this about an assassination attempt?"

Wally scrunched his nose, trying to think of the best way to explain this without giving too much away, "The Circus…" He had to break off to cough, pretty much everything hurting at the jarring motion. Dinah led him to a chair and he sank down into it gratefully. The rest of the gathered people sat around him. He continued, "The Circus has a place where we put – bad metas. The ones who we try to rehabilitate. A strange man found the place. He – he didn't resist when they arrested him, but he refused the blood test to show if he was a human or – a meta. The place that – holds the bad metas has a – power canceling factor. It's an ability dead-zone. So we put – him in some cuffs and called it good. I was brought in and, obviously, my powers – didn't work. His, however, did. He broke my nose, then my ribs. Then he started crushing my throat. Then he broke my leg. Then I hit – a pressure point and knocked him out. He seemed to be – impervious to everything else. His name's Tommy – Terror and he's got something in him that prevents power – nullifiers from working. Even… even that one meta who's powers are negating other people's powers didn't work." Wally explained, voice scratchy and throat incredibly sore when he was done.

Cameron scooted closer, ice cold fingers brushing against the bruising around Wally's throat, "And your speed healing hasn't kicked in, yet?"

"It hasn't had much time to. Besides, you know that going into – power dead-zones messes with my speed healing for a little bit afterwards. Nothing some food and some sleep won't – fix." Wally answered, holding as still as he could for Cameron, the icy fingers feeling good against his bruised skin.

Aqualad was frowning, "Tommy Terror? Of the Terror Twins?" Wally nodded to him and Aqualad's frown furthered, "We apprehended the Terror Twins a brief time ago. They were working with two other people who we used to send Superboy and Miss Martian undercover as to Belle Reeve. The last we had heard, they were being sent to a nearby camp. I was not aware that they had escaped."

"It's all good. From what I've gathered, the Light has – the twin somewhere. Don't know where. They're using that twin to get Tommy to do stuff. I just – hope that they won't hurt the twin because Tommy couldn't kill me. And we can't just – send Tommy back. We'll see if we can get his – help. Maybe we can rescue him and his twin." Wally mused, eyes slipping shut slightly as he leaned his head back.

Robin spoke next, "Wait, did you run here from wherever you were on a broken leg carrying Black Canary?"

It was Dinah who answered, "No, we had a teleporter bring us to a safe house we have in Louisiana. He ran us from the safehouse to here."

"And there's no chance that this teleporter guessed that the alliance was hiding out here?" Robin asked, obviously alarmed.

"That's assuming that the teleporter knows that we're working together. We don't share everything we do with the people that we rescue," Wally explained, "No one but the main team knows that we're even teaming up."

There was a shocked note in Robin's responding, "Oh…"

Cameron snorted, but didn't say anything, instead standing up and walking off. Wally opened one eye and walked him leave. He asked the room in general, "Think I finally made him angry enough to forget about doing medical?"

"Not a chance, douchebag," Cameron responded, plopping down next to Wally, obviously taking vindictive glee in watching how the undulations of the couch caused Wally pain. Cameron handed him a huge tubberware container, "Your dinner. Since you didn't eat after the mission and then went running around and trying to heal yourself. That's why you're taking so long to heal! You haven't eaten anything since before the mission began."

"I ate a couple protein bars while I was waiting for my concussion to go away!" Wally protested.

Cameron threw his arms into the air, "It's like talking to a brick wall!"

"What's going on?" A new voice asked, a cautious blonde head peaking around a corner before Artemis came out, dressed in a bathrobe, flannel pajamas, and her mask, bow held carefully in her grip.

Aqualad's eyes flicked calmly to her, "I am sorry, Artemis. We did not mean to wake anyone. I had thought that you were going home tonight."

Artemis shook her head, eyes narrowing as she traced over each person, "Miss Martian wanted a girl's sleepover to help her settle into her new… room…" Her mouth fell open when her eyes reached Wally, "What happened to  _you_?"

"Assassination attempt," Dinah and Red Arrow deadpanned at the same time, sending each other startled looks.

Cameron belatedly followed it up with, "Someone tried to kill Supersonic."

Wally interjected, "It really wasn't that big of a deal."

Robin frowned, "You said you almost got your throat crushed."

"It's all good," Wally responded, waving a hand, trying to get the attention off of him.

Artemis's voice was soft, calculating when she murmured, "I'm sorry I ever asked." Cameron beamed at her and she scowled at him, disgust lining the edges of her expression. Cameron didn't react, turning instead back to Wally and urging him to eat more of the food. Wally rolled his eyes but didn't fight it.

After another moment of watching them, Artemis muttered something to herself and left the room, presumably going back to the sleepover she'd been in the middle of. After a long moment, Red Arrow said lowly, "The way I look at it, you guys have a problem. Someone knew about your little rehabilitation prison place. You might want to check out your spy and see if they're really as clean as they seem."

Wally's expression tightened with instinctual anger, the urge to tell these people off for even trying to insinuate that his spy had betrayed him, that one of his precious Circus members had betrayed them all. He caught his anger before he could let it out, though, determined to keep calm. In the end, he couldn't really calm the severe expression on his face, but his voice was at least calmer than it would have been otherwise, "It's not our spy. We'll check the others. We do some pretty intense checks and run a low level EMP over everyone we bring in so there shouldn't be any trackers. But we'll check for that. I'll finish eating and then I'll sleep for a couple hours, then I'll go back to the rehabilitation center and check that out." Cameron was giving him a look that said that he wanted Wally to eat more and sleep more, but Wally didn't care. He had stuff to do.

In the end, that was all that was said that night.


	12. Chapter 12

KKKKKK

Kaldur watched Icicle send Supersonic off, the rest of the Circus and Team fanned out behind them, a mix of curious and concerned.

Icicle was scowling at Supersonic, "You shouldn't go back alone. I know you want to leave me here as second in command, but there are plenty of members on this team. Bring  _someone_  with."

"My leg's a little sore still. Not bad enough to not run on it! It would just be better if I didn't carry someone," Supersonic tried to defend.

Icicle was having none of it, scowling fiercely, "Then bring Changeling. He won't be heavy at all if he changes into a mouse or whatever."

Rolling his eyes, Supersonic sighed, the sound still a little scraped through his throat, "You guys need to get to know the rest of your new team. Aqualad said that he'd get some training in today, work on getting all of you used to seeing the other ones fighting. We've got Tommy Terror sedated and in something that can hold him. There's no danger." His voice was firm and determined, unrelenting on this issue.

"If there's no danger, then there's no issue with bringing Changeling!" Icicle argued. Changeling himself was staring between the two of them with big, wide eyes, trying to figure out where he should jump in.

Supersonic threw his hands in the air, "Icicle. I've got this."

Icicle let out a breath through his teeth, rubbing ineffectually at his forehead, "Okay,  _fine_."

"I was never looking for permission," Supersonic threw back, something of a challenge in his voice, an amused lilt that made him seem his age for once. Icicle didn't respond, just rolling his eyes and pushing at Supersonic's shoulder, urging him to get going. There was a camaraderie in the action, an easy-going acceptance that seemed so out of place for the two typically suspicious and wary boys.

In a way, it was startling to Kaldur. Metahumans were thought of as things to be feared or pitied, things that needed help. And Kaldur could see a lot of that within the Circus. Each of these metahumans were obviously powerful, capable of feats beyond Kaldur's imagination. It was incredible – and terrifying. They used those powers partially for good, yes, but they also rarely aided anyone but their own kind and they used their abilities to kill, to gain information. There was a lot in the metahumans, however, to pity. They were all infinitely scarred in some way. Whether it was the way they were hunted by the Collection Agency or their time fighting other metahumans with nothing but their own built up resources and limited knowledge that caused that obvious trauma and suspiciousness, Kaldur doubted he would ever know. But it was obvious that they were all hurt and scared. How could they not be? Kaldur knew that he would be frightened if such powers were placed on him arbitrarily with no rhyme, reason, or explanation.

And yet, fear and pity were not the only feelings that these metahumans inspired. There was a healthy portion of awe; they were infinitely powerful and incredibly well-trained. One of the biggest problems with metahumans were the fact that they were very difficult to train. Each one's powers were different, a new ability each time and there was no one out there who knew how the powers worked, knew the ins and outs in order to train them. Atlanteans, Amazons, aliens, magicians all had centuries or more of traditions and techniques to train their children, to show them how to use their powers, how to control them and work with them. Metahumans did not have that.

Still, though, the Circus acted as a formulated group, each person's powers obviously well-known to the rest of the group, each person commanding a control over their abilities that was thought to be unknown. Kaldur knew that the Circus's level of control meant hours upon long hours of struggling through each nuance of their powers, trying and trying again to control the strange powers that were thrust upon them. They had to have trained themselves, figured everything out themselves. That was awe-inspiring.

Beyond awe, there was also a feeling of connectivity, of camaraderie. These Circus members were heroes, too. Maybe they were rougher around the edges (willing to sacrifice a life to achieve their goals was a little more than rough, but they seemed willing to abstain from killing until they have discussed it with the Team) and maybe their powers were strange, but they were heroes too. They had the same weary set of someone who knew the horrors the world could throw at you, but who continued to fight for that world regardless. They had the same light in their eyes that said that they enjoyed the fight, found the thrill in each battle, knew the consequences of losing. It was a contradiction and a puzzle and Kaldur would be fascinated by it if he did not have to focus so intently on the Light.

Kaldur was broken from his thoughts by the sound of Supersonic speeding out of the room, a strange mixture of the whoosh of displaced air and the crackle of static electricity. Roy was watching the spot Supersonic had disappeared from with a disgruntled expression, "I don't think I'll ever get used to that."

Surprisingly, it was Jinx who answered, "Not really sure any of us will."

Black Canary nodded along, a small smirk on her face, "I'll vouch for that."

"So, what's the plan for today?" Raquel interrupted, rubbing her hands together and smiling at Kaldur.

He inclined his head to her, "Today, we will start training. We will start by grouping member of each team against each other to gain a better understanding of each person's hand to hand combat skills. Do you know the mastery levels of each of your team members?" Kaldur directed his last question at Icicle.

The metahuman nodded easily, an open smile on his face, "Yeah, we've got an order of who's the best at it and all that. Black Canary is well and beyond the rest of us losers. Ballistic is next. Then me. Firehawk and Supersonic are about equal. Then Changeling, then Maser, then Jinx."

There was a mean sneer in Artemis's voice when she asked, "Your  _leader_  is in the middle when it comes to fighting abilities?"

Icicle sighed, "It's not like any of us started out life thinking that we were going to become some sort of attack team. Most of us didn't have  _any_  hand to hand combat training before we started the Circus. Black Canary had a ton of it. Kelvin had a good amount. I had stuff that I picked up here and there and put to regular practice. Firehawk had some gentle training. The rest of them had never even tried to fight another person. Just because they're in the middle or lower or whatever in terms of hand to hand doesn't mean that they aren't the best somewhere else. We balance each other out."

"Well said," Kaldur interrupted before this could turn into something bad, "And, that being said, this training will teach us how to balance each other between our teams. We have fought within our own teams for a long time. This will teach us to fight with new players. Now, please, let us go to the training room and partner up with someone of the same fighting level as yourself."

He and Icicle trailed behind the group and ran a critical eye over the pairings. Robin was, unsurprisingly, facing off against Black Canary. Superboy, more due to his strength than any precise sort of fighting skill, was faced off against Ballistic, the two of them enormous forces towards the back. Zatanna and Jinx (Kaldur needed to talk to Zatanna about Jinx's request, now that he was thinking of it) had partnered and so had Maser and Raquel. Changeling was paired off with M'gann. Roy was against Firehawk. That left Artemis, Kaldur, and Icicle without partners. Inclining his head, Kaldur said to Icicle, "You could go against Artemis and I shall observe."

Icicle nodded, sizing up his new opponent. He walked towards her with a smirk on his face, hand held out in greeting. She sneered at him. His smirk widened. Her eyes rolled. Kaldur was not entirely certain what to make of the interaction.

He walked over to one wall as each pair began to fight each other in earnest. From what Kaldur could see, they were all relatively evenly matched. Most of the Team were better tactical fighters – having been trained by an ancient Amazon princess tended to have that effect. A lot of the Team were also more experienced. This was harder to see sometimes in battle, each of them new to fighting in the Team and therefore clumsier and less effective than they would have been otherwise. The Circus members made up for that disparity through tenacity and street moves that were so completely different from the formally trained Wonder Woman or the brutally trained assassins or high-level thugs that they often had to go against.

That wasn't always good enough for the Circus members to win, however. Conner and Ballistic were still facing off against each other, seemingly locked in an ineffectual grapple that was leaning slightly in Conner's favor. Zatanna and Jinx were leaning against the wall, catching their breath. Zatanna had easily taken Jinx down, launching the gaunt girl's form onto the ground moments after the battle ended. The same was obvious about Maser and Raquel. She was just leaning down to pick him off the ground. He was laughing, though, hand held to his forehead and chest heaving just as obviously as Raquel's. Artemis and Icicle were still facing off, but it was obvious to see where that confrontation was leading. Icicle was just staving off his inevitable defeat, desperately blocking hard blows, no chance to strike back.

Roy's defeat of Firehawk was less of an easy win, the two of them relatively closely matched. Roy's edge of greater experience and training won over, though, allowing him to pin Firehawk to the mat, the two of them slumping after the winner was decided.

Changeling and M'gann were still going. The groups that had already decided a winner stopped to watch them fight. Changeling was remarkable, obvious fighter's instincts and a wild fighting pattern that applied tactical lessons with a new edge that was obviously devastating to go against. He was the embodiment of the animals he could change into. Kaldur believed that Changeling would actually win that battle.

Black Canary and Dick were evenly matched. They flashed in and out of each other's space, ducking and dodging, driving cutting blows into each other's weak sections seconds after a hasty block was pulled into place. They were stunning to watch. Vaguely, Kaldur was aware of Conner finally winning in his match against Ballistic, Artemis doing the same in her own fight. Changeling took down M'gann. Kaldur's eyes were glued to the battled between Black Canary and Robin.

The rest of the group gathered around Kaldur, watching the two fight. It didn't seem as if it was going to end anytime soon. Their skill levels easily rivaled each other. Kaldur knew that Black Canary (or, at least, he  _assumed_ ) did not have the same amount of experience in being a superhero, but she certainly had the experience in fighting opponents who were equal to or better than her.

In the end, that experience won out over Robin's own. She whipped around in a vicious palm-strike, diving into a complicated twisting kick that knocked Dick's legs out from underneath him, sending him painfully to the floor. Black Canary was on top of him an instant later, pinning him to the ground, huge muscles straining underneath her leather and fishnet. Dick grappled with her for a moment longer, trying to find a way out of the hold, but Black Canary didn't move at all, keeping him pinned. After another second of struggling, Dick slumped against the mat and tapped out, leaning his head back and just lying there when Black Canary got up and moved a little out of the way.

She was smirking down at him, "That'll teach you a little respect for your elders, huh?"

"You sure your metahuman abilities don't involve enhanced physical attributes?" Dick gasped, crawling up from the ground and doing some quick cool-down stretches.

Black Canary threw her head back and laughed, "I'm sure."

Almost unwillingly, Artemis whispered, "That was amazing."

Icicle beamed, "You should see her when she's using her powers."

"She's awesome when you're  _watching_ her use her powers. She's awful when she's using her powers on  _you_ ," Jinx complained, arms crossed over her chest. Changeling and Maser were nodding emphatically in agreement.

Black Canary rolled her eyes, "Like any of you are any better when you're using your powers. Changeling especially! Have any of you been attacked by an elephant with the intelligence of a human? It's not fun." Changeling grinned at her, unrepentant.

Kaldur focused on that thread of conversation, "Supersonic informed me that you changed into a dinosaur during the recent mission. What, exactly, can you turn into?"

Raquel made a quiet choking sound, "He  _what_?"

"Almost gave me a heart attack," Roy muttered, arms crossed, "The  _last_  thing I expected was for a T-Rex to pop up in the middle of the warehouse." Raquel's expression became, if possible, more horrified.

"Haha, sorry!" Changeling rubbed the back of his head, cheeks tinting a strange reddish-green color that was almost brown, "I can turn into pretty much any animal I've seen. And I've seen a lot. I used to… uh, I've seen a lot of animals over time. Sometimes, I just have to, like, be in a new environment and I can… I don't know… absorb the ability to turn into more animals? Like, when we went to Hell, I accidentally absorbed the ability to become the demons there?"

"When you…  _what_?" Dick asked, mouth hanging open slightly. Now the rest of the Team was staring at Changeling in horror.

"It wasn't our fault! We were trying to help someone out! She had to go there and needed some back-up, so we… um, backed her up. It's okay! We didn't mess with anything! Too much!" Changeling tried to defend. The Team continued to stare at him.

Black Canary swooped in to help him, "That was a while ago. What Changeling is trying to say is that he can turn into most dinosaurs, various demons, and a large portion of animals and insects from Earth. He can turn into precisely three alien animal species. Sometimes, he can transform only part of his body into an animal part, but that's harder for him than it is to completely transform."

"Alright, thank you for sharing that," Kaldur nodded to the two of them, receiving a nod and a beamed smile in return, "In fact, we should share startling aspects of our abilities with each other. Things that could easily be distracting in a fight. Changeling can turn into large animals on a moment's notice. Anyone else?"

Black Canary shrugged, "What you see – or, well,  _hear_  – is what you get with me. I know some of you haven't heard it, but I really do scream quite loud. That's literally it. I guess it could be considered distracting."

Zatanna nodded emphatically, "I have never heard someone scream so loud in my life."

"Could you show us?" Conner asked curiously. Robin, Zatanna, Roy, and M'gann immediately clapped their hands over their ears, the Circus members adjusting something in their comms.

Kaldur cautiously placed his own hands over his hears. Through the muffling of his fingers, he heard Artemis ask, "Why would we cover our ears if we want to hear how loud you scream?"

"You asked me to show what might be distracting, so I figured that I'd give you one of my loudest screams," Black Canary gave her a dry glance, disapproval and disinterest radiating from her. Artemis scowled, but covered her ears, the rest following suit.

Black Canary grimaced at Conner, "This is going to really, really suck for someone with super hearing." He shrugged and put his hands more firmly over his ears.

Black Canary eyed him for a moment longer before turning to face away from them and  _screaming_. Even with his hands clasped over his ears, Kaldur was almost certain that her scream was the loudest sound he had ever had the misfortune of hearing in his life. The mats that were on the ground in front of Black Canary were physically picked up and displaced by the sound of her scream, sent careening across the floor. Kaldur could almost  _see_  the air being displaced by the shrill scream.

After a second or so, the sound tapered off and Black Canary turned back around to face them. The expression on her face was not the smirking one that Kaldur had expected, but instead a cautious, calculating one. She was testing them by showing the Team her relationship, Kaldur realized. She was seeing how they would react, seeing how a blatant demonstration of a metahuman's powers would affect them.

Robin looked vaguely disgruntled, wincing and pushing at his ear. Conner was obviously dazed, hands still over his ears and eyes blinking rapidly. M'gann and Zatanna wore the same slightly pained, slightly awed expressions and Roy just looked annoyed. Those who had not heard the scream before were shell-shocked, staring at the mats that had been blown away in obvious disbelief. It was incredible that the sound waves created by someone's  _voice_  was enough to forcibly move tangible objects.

Ballistic spoke into the silence, "I'm less impressive than all that. This is  _literally_  what you get. I'm big, red, tough, and strong. I don't got anything else. Just know that I use a lot of big guns." His words broke the spell that had fallen over the group, allowing them to pull themselves back into the conversation.

Kaldur turned as Jinx spoke next, "I'm not just… telekinetic or whatever. I kind of cause… unlucky things to happen. I can convince things to fall over or whatever. I've been told that the things that happen because of my powers can be surprising sometimes. I knock things over a lot. Everything I grab with my powers turns pink."

"Pink like your sparkly little inner self," Icicle grinned. Jinx sent him a vicious death glare. Icicle was unfazed.

Icicle laughed and added, "It gets cold around me when I fight. I do sometimes ice the ground to knock the goons over and, well, the ice doesn't melt all that fast? So, I guess it could be really distracting if you slipped on the ice?"

"You think?" Artemis muttered sarcastically. Icicle raised an eyebrow at her. She scowled back.

Firehawk shrugged, "My fire gets pretty bright. There aren't really any secret powers there. I just control the fire that I create, and I fly. That's it."

Maser piped in, "I'm pretty not-distracting. The worst is when I turn into waves of energy because that can make a really bright light and then I'll be gone, so…"

"And you guys?" Icicle asked.

Kaldur shook his head, "First, what of your leader? Does Supersonic have any distracting, currently unknown abilities?"

Icicle wrinkled his nose, "I mean, yes? His powers are pretty expansive. First of all, the little lightning trails and wind that he leaves behind can be pretty distracting, but that's really easy to get used to in a battle since everything's so fast paced anyways. He can spin his hands around in circles fast enough to create little air tunnel things? He can get rid of a fire that way. If he runs really fast in a circle, he can create a miniature tornado. If he runs opposite a tornado, then he can unravel it. That's pretty much it. We're all discovering new aspects of our powers every day, though. It's not an easy process. Now, how about you guys?"

Icicle seemed uncomfortable talking about the unknown qualities of his powers and Kaldur could understand that. The knowledge that metahumans had no one, no history to help them understand every facet of their power was one of the things that anti-metahuman ideal supporters lauded as evidence to support their views. Metahumans were constantly discovering new abilities and new uses for their powers, most often in highly stressful situations, leading to accidental civilian casualties and collateral damage of epic proportions.

Kaldur smoothed over the issue by continuing, "Although my training in the subject is still a work in progress, I do have some training in Atlantean sorcery. My people can control the water and shape it to their will. We often shape it into sea beasts or large weapons, which can survive those who had not seen it before. In regard to myself, if I am to use my sorcery, it is most likely to simply form a large wave."

Icicle nodded, seemingly impressed. Roy picked up the conversation, "Robin, Artemis, and I don't have any powers. We're the same as Ballistic: just watch out for our weapons and the things they can do. Artemis and I used polyurethane arrows a lot. They basically shoot out this foam that spreads and hardens around an enemy."

Firehawk rolled her eyes, "Don't tell Supersonic about that. He'll geek out all over it." She took on a higher pitched voice, hands clasped in front of her and eyelashes batting dramatically, "How does it work? What's the strength? How fast does it spread? What properties make it up? How do you choose when it leaves the arrow?"

Another obviously altered high-pitched voice continued, "What's the chemical makeup? What properties allow it to harden? Have you ever accidentally caught a teammate in it?" Supersonic stood there, mouth tugged down into his typical tired frown. There was a light in his voice, though, that belied his amusement at the moment he'd walked into, "Come on, I know you have a man voice, but my voice is lower than that!"

Icicle interrupted before Firehawk (who was puffing herself up in the background, scowl overtaking her expression) could say anything, "You seem to be in a good mood. And you're back fast. Found the leak already?"

Supersonic lifted his hand, tilting it side to side in a so-so motion, "Not really? I set, um, the power negating meta on interrogating the prisoners to see if any of them had something that allowed information to leave the place so the actual leak, if they're there, won't know that we suspect them. I am, however, starting to think that it might not be any of them. I took a look at cameras around the area and no one's even left in a good long while."

Robin spoke before Icicle could, "You suspect someone else."

Roy's expression narrowed, "You can't blame this on our 'mole.' There's no way they would have known about your little rehab center or whatever."

Supersonic's nose scrunched, "I think it's… the people we got ideas from."

The Team stared at him blankly, but the Circus made knowing noises, expressions dropping slightly at the idea.

Artemis threw her hands in the air, " _Seriously_? You can't even trust us with this?"

"We don't trust you with a lot of things," Supersonic answered blandly, continuing with, "But this one isn't our secret to tell. The people we got ideas from were formed and hiding for longer than we've been doing the same thing. They've been more than kind to us and I'm going to respect that."

"Even though you think they betrayed you," Artemis countered.

Supersonic shrugged, "Even thought I think  _one_  of them betrayed us. They've got people with differing opinions and anger just like any well-established group does." His expression was still considering, obviously attempting to calculate who it was that betrayed him.

Raquel asked cautiously, "Do you think you know which one?"

"I think so? I don't know. I'm going to have to talk to them and see what I can get, but that'll wait until tonight. I've missed out on enough training as it is. Also, speaking of which, I am interested in those polyurethane arrows. Polyurethane has always been a fascinating subject."

"Are you a scientist?" M'gann inquired, voice soft and sweet, nothing but honest curiosity in her voice.

Supersonic's voice was wry, only the slightest hint of bitterness in it when he answered, "I think I would have liked to be one."

Even Artemis fell silent at those words, shoulders slumping in a little bit.

It was Black Canary who broke the mood, "Well, new leader? What do we need to work on?"

Kaldur startled a little bit when he realized that they were talking to him. He blinked, mentally floundering for a moment before he composed himself (the amused tilt of Supersonic's lips showed that he was inwardly laughing at Kaldur's mental flailing), "The number one priority for training is to get both teams to work together seamlessly, in any combination possible. The secondary priority is to train the Circus members to be subtler. We are a covert operations team and your powers are not necessarily suited to that task. Supersonic and I have discussed other items that need to be addressed, but those are not related to training and will be spoken of after this, with only the team members necessary for the discussions." He studiously ignored the way every single teenager on the team sent an obvious glance at Artemis. Honestly, they  _were_  supposed to be covert ops, even if they did not act like it sometimes.

Supersonic pitched in, "This week before the League members start coming in is all about getting to know each other. I know some of you are going to want to get onto the Light problem immediately, but we can't just run into that. We need to get to know each other first. This week will get us better at fighting with each other and will allow us to make sure that everyone has the same information. We'll do a session later in the week to catch each other up on what we know about the Light. Be prepared for that." He paused, searching each person's face. He turned to Kaldur and Kaldur nodded. Nodding back, Supersonic announced, "Let's get at it, then."


	13. Chapter 13

WWWWWW

Wally took a deep breath, resting his hands against his thighs and dropped his head below shoulder level, just taking the moment to  _breathe_. He felt a body settle on the wall next to him; it wasn't one he immediately recognized. It must be a Team member. Wally wrinkled his nose. Couldn't they have come up with a better name? Did they even realize how confusing it was to name their team "Team?" Because it was confusing. And lame. And unoriginal. Wally was consistently disappointed in it.

Robin's voice asked lightly, "You doing okay there?"

"Peachy," Wally gasped, head dangling. The training exercises had graduated from pairing off against each other to full-on combat simulations. The Team's temporary HQ's combat simulation was  _way_ higher tech than Wally's  _main_  HQ's combat simulation (meaning, Wally didn't have simulation software at his main HQ. They were still working on trying to rig something like that up). That being said, fighting against simulation opponents was a lot harder than whatever training exercises Wally and/or Dinah could think up. Especially when they did it on repeat.

Robin snorted, "Wonder Woman is going to tear you to shreds."

Wally tilted his head up, peering up at Robin through his goggles, "That's nice." He raised an eyebrow.

Giving off the impression that he was rolling his eyes, Robin smirked brightly at Wally, "Just being honest! But it'll be the good kind of being torn to shreds. Besides, you heal fast."

Wally's mouth twisted, and he muttered under his breath, "With a hero? There's no good kind."

Apparently, Robin heard him because his lips twisted down too, and he said, "We're not bad people."

"Didn't say you were," Wally answered tiredly, stretching out now that the practice was done. He could see his team staggering around the room, trying to gain energy back. Except for Harold and Garfield because they were apparently inexhaustible sources of energy.

"You didn't have to. That's what you meant," Robin accused, the little frown still on his face.

Wally rolled his eyes, "I didn't say that, and I didn't mean that. Just because people do bad things doesn't mean they're bad people. I was just saying that I don't have the best history with heroes being nice to me. I get that you guys are heroes and you do amazing things. That's it."

There was a long pause where they stretched in silence before Robin said quietly, "Sorry."

"Don't be. I understand where you're coming from," And Wally did. This whole controversy with metahumans had been around for eight years or so. How old had this teenaged hero been when metahumans started popping up with alarming frequency? How old had he been when the first camp was created? It wasn't easy to convince people of something when they'd grown up hearing nothing but that. It was why the teenage members of the Circus had such a hard time with self-esteem and self-love. They'd been told since they were relatively young that they were monsters and freaks. It wasn't easy to push past that.

"I had totally expected you to be chalant about all of this," Robin stated, brows furrowed.

Wally narrowed his eyes, "You…  _what_?"

"Oh!" Robin said, grin taking over his expression again, "So, you know how nonchalant means super chill and just cool with it? Well, doesn't it make sense that chalant would mean the opposite? Super not chill and not cool with it?"

For a long second, Wally stared at Robin, "… Well… yes… I guess it does make sense. But that's not a word."

"I made it one!" Robin pouted, arms actually crossing over his chest petulantly.

Sending a confused glance at the hero, Wally shook his head, "Okay, man. Whatever you say."

"Anyways," Robin stressed, "My point is that you and the rest of the Circus are a lot calmer about this whole alliance thing than I'd been expecting. From what I heard, the only potential hold-out is Firehawk."

Wally rolled his eyes, "Yeah, she's a bit of a firecracker. Then again, so is your Artemis. And the rest of you are calm about this whole thing. I'd say we're in the same place. Both of our teams are mainly calm with one hold-out. We're both per-say superhero teams, you know. It's not all that surprising that we have the same reaction to this."

Robin gave him an expression that was unreadable through the domino mask, something serious but undefinable in the set of his chin, the slant of his mouth. Wally wanted to say something, to ask a question, to break the silence, but, in the end, he just let the silence grow, finally finishing his stretches. Cameron sent him a questioning glance and Wally made a small motion with his fingers, indicating that Wally would tell him later. Cameron nodded in response.

Finally, Robin spoke, "I think you're all more different than you could know."

Wally pursed his lips, reading the extra layer in that sentence. Metahumans were different than what the Collection Agency allowed people to think about them. Robin was finally starting to take notice of what Wally wanted him to see. Humans couldn't have a metahuman tell them that they were the same, that there was no significant difference between a human and a meta, that the metas just wanted to live a normal life like everyone else. If a metahuman told a human that, it would be disregarded. The prejudice ran too deep, the institutionalized ideals too firmly engrained. But if a human saw for themselves that metahumans weren't what they were cracked up to be, if they came to their own realization,  _then_  there could be change. There could be a new life for metas. A life where they weren't hidden away in an isolated city in Canada.

Eventually, Wally shrugged, "I guess so."

He could feel Robin's eyes on his back as he walked away.

Wally had intended to walk over to where Cameron was standing with Kelvin, but Aqualad called him over first. Curious, Wally moved over to where Aqualad was standing with Red Arrow. He asked, "What's up?"

Aqualad nodded to Red Arrow and the redhead moved away, sending the two of them a curious glance. Aqualad said, "I was thinking that perhaps we could meet with the necessary individuals right away for conversation."

"Wow, you move fast," Wally said, both eyebrows raising. Aqualad just nodded to him. Wally shrugged, "Sure, I don't see why not. Want to get Artemis out of the way, then do Zatanna, then talk to the whole group?"

"That will work for me," Aqualad answered. He turned to face the group, "Perhaps you could all retire to the living room or the kitchen. Supersonic and I will be talking to specific people before addressing the group at large." There were furtive glances at Artemis, but no one said anything.

As they started moving out of the room, Aqualad putting a large hand on Artemis's shoulder to stop her from leaving the room, Wally called out, "Good job training, guys. We worked well together." And it was true. Despite neither of the teams being used to each other's powers and their fighting styles being drastically different, they were able to work well together. As exhausting as it was, the training had been fun and enlightening instead of stressful and tense as Wally had predicted. It was probably a good thing that those missions had come in at the time they had. Having those missions before they even tried training was a blessing in disguise.

There were a few nods and smiles turned in his direction, but otherwise, the group was silent as they trekked out of the training room and towards the living room or kitchen. Probably kitchen. Wally knew that his people at least were always hungry after a good round of training.

Goodness knew he was. Not that that was important at the moment.

Artemis's voice took his mind off of food, "Why am I here?"

Aqualad frowned at her, eyebrows drawing together above his eyes, "I believe you know the answer to that, Artemis. Your behavior has been unacceptable recently."

"Seriously?" Artemis asked, stance growing defensive, "I haven't done anything wrong! Besides, what is  _he_ doing here? He doesn't need to be here for this!"

Aqualad's voice was firm and unyielding when he answered, "He is a leader of this team, too, Artemis. You must come to understand that. He is responsible for doling out punishment just as I am." Wally could see Artemis getting angrier, probably distraught that someone who was supposed to be on her side wasn't taking it. He knew that someone needed to step in and he knew that that person probably wasn't him.

Still, there was no one else. Wally tried to make his voice as soft and soothing as possible without making it patronizing, "Look, Artemis. I just want to know  _why_  you seem to have some sort of special vendetta against us? We're trying to make this work. If you have a specific problem with me or my team or my  _kind_ , please let me know."

Her face lit up with anger, but Wally had practice reading expressions on people who tried to avoid projecting their emotions. At the camps, too much emotion was a way to get targeted, no matter what emotion it was. The metas that Wally had seen in those long six years wore blank expressions, but Wally did that too. He learned to read deeper. Artemis's expression might be showing anger, but there were other emotions buried underneath it, obviously meant to be hidden. She was afraid. She was guilty.

Artemis snarled, "You want to know what my problem with you is? You're  _killers_! No better than the criminals we swore to catch when we decided to become superheroes! You are  _villains_  and everyone's just ignoring that fact! Maybe you don't like the way the camps work or the Collection Agency or whatever. Don't kill people and destroy things to get change! And! And you don't save humans! You leave them in whatever horrible place you took metas from. How can you try to say that you're 'just the same as us' when you won't save humans? When you segregate yourselves and keep secrets and screw the rest of us over? How can you even  _pretend_  you're the same when you draw people into a life of crime, when metahumans are making up a  _huge_  and  _growing_  portion of the villains in the world?" She breathed harshly, hands clenched at her sides. She was furious, the anger leaking off her in waves.

Aqualad's eyes were soft and understanding, but he didn't say anything, leaving this open for Wally. Wally had the feeling that this moment was why Aqualad had really wanted him here. So he could defend himself. He took a deep breath, collecting his thoughts, "Artemis. First, whether you believe me or not, we do try to avoid killing. Sometimes, though, it's our third or fourth time fighting this person and we've tried to help them, to rehabilitate them and it doesn't work. Sometimes, we just don't have enough training to get out of a situation without killing the other person. I don't know if you realize how incredible it is that you guys don't kill people. It requires so much more skill to fight without killing the opponent, especially when they're trying to kill you.

"Second, I tried saving humans in the beginning. I received resistance from so many sources that I gave it up. Yeah, that wasn't good of me. And yeah, it was probably the coward's way out. Yeah, I should have done better. But I've only been doing this for a year. My own team didn't want me to save humans because they were afraid of them. Why wouldn't they be? A human would turn us into the camps just as soon as they'd accept our help. Because that's another problem. There are humans who  _fought_ me, who  _drew blood_  to avoid being rescued by me. They told me that they'd rather die than be rescued by a metahuman. And the metahumans I rescued? Some said that they wouldn't come with me if I rescued a human. Because they were afraid of humans, too. It came down to rescuing my own kind, who I had promised to help, who  _wanted_  my help, or rescuing humans, who no one wanted me to rescue, including they themselves. I made my decision and I won't regret it.

"Third, I can't do anything about the last bit. Every population has a portion of criminals. Maybe there's something about metas that makes it easier for them to commit crimes. Maybe it's the way we're treated by humans. Maybe it's the idea that we won't be able to go anywhere else with our lives. Maybe it's none of those things. But you can't take that out on my team. We fight those criminals just like you do. We want them off the street just as bad as you do." Wally finished with a sigh. That was a longer speech than he'd given in a long time. Probably since he snapped one day and yelled at Dinah. She'd been trying to psychoanalyze him or whatever and he, well, hadn't quite appreciated it at the moment.

Artemis's expression was tight, her jaw clenched and her lips quivering. She pushed out, "Can I talk to Supersonic alone?"

Aqualad's eyebrows rose in alarm and he turned his head slightly towards Wally, as if asking him what he wanted. Wally shrugged, leaving the decision up to Aqualad. After a brief moment of thought, Aqualad bowed his head and said, "Of course." He left the room with just one curious, worried glance back at them.

Wally turned back to Artemis, staying silent. He'd let her say what she wanted to say. He wouldn't push her.

After a long,  _long_  moment, Artemis swallowed harshly and admitted, "I don't actually hate metahumans."

"It wouldn't surprise me if you did hate us," Wally allowed her, staying still in his spot.

"I just… My parents were… My mom was relying on a meta to do a job with her and my dad and the job went south. Everything that could have gone wrong did and I ended up not being able to see my mom for six years and now she's a paraplegic." Artemis admitted, voice small, but hard.

"Why are you telling me this? I'm willing to bet that the reason you sent Aqualad away is because you haven't told him this." Wally asked, honestly curious. He couldn't tell if it was what she meant, but it sounded like her parents were criminals and one of their heists – one they'd ran with a meta – went south, leaving her mom paralyzed and in jail. Which, yeah, that would suck. Still not a good enough reason to hate an entire species. Though, Wally couldn't really blame her.

When it became clear that she wasn't going to answer anytime soon, Wally admitted, "My parents were the ones who turned me in to the Collection Agency. They… the doctor realized it when I was in the hospital. I recovered too fast from what I'd been put in there for and they knew what I was. My mom didn't even stay to watch them leave. She didn't say anything to me the entire time I was in the hospital, actually. My dad called me a freak and then left without saying goodbye or, or I'll see you after they fix your, or I love you. They just left. And I hated them for it. I hated  _humans_  for it. I thought, how callous must humans be that finding out someone was a metahuman made them stop loving them?" He shook his head, emotion clogging his throat. He hadn't really meant to tell her all that.

She was staring at him with wide, open eyes, "You said  _hated_ , not  _hate_. You don't hate them anymore?"

"No," Wally said softly, "First came the realization that my parents had  _always_  been like that, even before they found out I was a metahuman. They really didn't change at all. I just finally realized it. Then came the realization that, in the end, they did love me and that was their way of showing it. I mean, I'm just assuming. Maybe it's wishful thinking. I like to believe it's not and that they just… I don't think they really wanted a kid and when they got stuck with me… they did their best? I don't know. Hate isn't worth holding onto."

"Have you visited them? Or at least checked up on them?" Artemis asked, painfully curious and hopeful.

Wally shook his head, "I'm not quite strong enough for that. How about you? I'm making assumptions here, but your father isn't really in picture anymore, is he? You visit him?"

Her lips twitched, and her jaw clenched again, " _He_  visited  _me_."

Wally sighed, "I can't tell you how to feel because I don't have  _nearly_  enough information, but hate really,  _really_  isn't worth holding onto. It's just… it's draining, isn't it? And, I'm going to have this same conversation with Firehawk. With the rest of my team, actually. Most of them understand that on a basic level, but I'll make sure that they put it into practice. Okay?"

Artemis swallowed, "This doesn't mean I like you. And you can't tell anyone what I've told you!"

"Ditto," Wally said, amused despite himself. The amusement faded into slight panic as he waved his hands around, "Wait, only the second part! I only ditto the second part! I like you. Well, I mean, I've only had like two conversations with you. So… I like you as much as I can. As a  _friend_! Wait, no, not a friend. I… leader. I like you as a member of my team. Yes. That."

Artemis shook her head in exasperation, "It amazes me that the Circus let such a dunderhead lead them." Wally mocked indignation. The moment faded into calm.

The two gave each other quick, commiserating smiles. Wally knew that this wasn't a permanent fix. It was a strong fix and it would weather a lot of storms, but it wasn't permanent. She would be in close contact with a lot of people that she was afraid of and mad at and she would feel guilty for both emotions and that wasn't a good mixture for anyone. Her natural personality was fire-bright and brash, sharp edges that were going to take a lot of time to smooth down. Still, for now? It was a good thing.

Awkward now that the bonding moment was over, Artemis jerked a thumb over her shoulder, "Want me to go grab Aqualad?"

"Yeah, thanks. Oh, go ahead and bring Zatanna in, too. She was the next one we were going to talk to," Wally answered.

Artemis's brow furrowed, "Why do you want to talk to  _Zatanna_?"

Wally raised both eyebrows, "Do you want me to tell her why we talked to  _you_?"

"No," Artemis answered sullenly. Wally just stared at her. She rolled her eyes and walked out of the training room. Wally rolled his eyes at her retreating form.

It wasn't long before Aqualad and a confused looking Zatanna walked in. Wally wanted to sigh. He hated serious conversations. He really, really did. Hopefully it wouldn't last too long.

When the other two came to stand next to him, Wally nodded to Aqualad, a sign that he should introduce the conversation. Aqualad nodded back and turned to Zatanna, "You are not in trouble. We merely wished to speak with you about a proposition." He turned the conversation over to Wally.

Wally scratched the back of his neck and said, "Do you remember how Jinx introduced her powers? She said that she can do magic, but not like the way you do magic. She was wondering if you would be willing to try to teach it to her? Obviously, there's a chance that it won't work, and she's prepared for that, but she'd like to try to learn."

Zatanna's mouth fell open, "Wait, seriously?" Wally nodded. Zatanna blinked, looking down at her feet for a moment before she looked up, expression smoothing out, "Of course I'll try to teach her magic. I'm really not sure if it will work. My magic is passed down through the family bloodline. But, no one really knows how metahuman powers work and you guys all say that her powers are like magic, right?"

Unable to just let it go, Wally answered, "Assuming magic existed, yes." Both Aqualad and Zatanna turned incredulous stares on him. He scowled, "What?"

Zatanna's expression was horrified, "You don't believe in magic?"

"I am  _not_  getting into this argument with you! I've had this argument enough times with Jinx. That's it. I regret saying anything. Conversation over. I will talk to Jinx and we'll figure out between the four of us when you can do your not-magic training or whatever." Wally answered, throwing his hands up defensively. Zatanna put a hand to her mouth and giggled, eyes bright and amused.

"Of course," Aqualad stepped in smoothly. His voice was clear and controlled, but Wally could see the tremor at the corners as if he were trying to stop himself from laughing. Why did Wally surround himself with people who were cruel to him? Why?

Zatanna snorted, clapping a hand over her mouth quickly as she dissolved into laughter. Wally rolled his eyes. After a moment, Zatanna gained control of herself and asked, "Do you want me to tap the next person in?" Wally rolled his eyes again.

Aqualad smiled gently at her, "No, thank you. I believe you were the last one we wanted to talk to individually. Anything else can be addressed with the group as a whole." Wally nodded with him.

The three of them walked out of the training room together, into the kitchen like Wally had expected.

It was only Wally's faster than normal perception that allowed him to catch the projectile before it beaned him in the face. Scowling, Wally glared at Cameron, "Really?"

"You need to eat," Cameron replied, munching on his own food. He continued staring at his own food, apparently impervious to Wally's death glare. Then again, after being on the receiving end of it so many times, it really wasn't all that surprising that he'd developed some sort of resistance against it. Honestly, Cameron was such a mother hen it wasn't even funny. Wally could never really judge him for it, though because Cameron was this way because he was so unerringly loyal. It was humbling to see.

That is, it was humbling to see when Wally wasn't trying to bore holes in the back of his head.

Aqualad's voice drifted over the group, "We have something we would like to address with the group as a whole. The matter of killing was something that we did not bring up in our initial meeting, but we should have. The Circus kills while the Team is strongly against killing of any kind."

Artemis and Wally shared a slightly uncomfortable glance, the two of them reminded of their earlier conversation. Cameron shrugged, "I mean, we can try not to kill? We haven't really been trained how  _not_  to kill, so there's a chance we'll accidentally kill someone. And I know that if it's a choice between a teammate and the enemy, I'm going to choose my teammate."

"No one is asking you to abandon your team members," Aqualad soothed, "We merely ask that you avoid killing at almost all cost. If it is necessary, we can try to focus our training on teaching you how to not kill."

Dinah nodded, "We don't actively try to kill people. It's actually normally better if the people survive anyways." She shrugged her broad shoulders. The Team was giving her horrified expressions.

Superboy's brows were furrowed, "Don't you want the justice system to deal with it?"

Lorraine snorted, "We deal with metas. And everyone knows that the justice system isn't all that just when it comes to metas."

"Either way," Wally cut off before the situation could devolve any further into politics, "It would be great if we could be taught ways  _not_  to kill in battle. We'll focus on that in our training. The Circus will do their level best to avoid killing. Everyone good?" The gathered group nodded at him over their lunch. He nodded back.

Aqualad suddenly put his hand up to his ear, nodding at something that none of them could hear. He put his hand back down and turned to Wally, "The League would like to talk to you through the meeting room downstairs."

Wally hung his head, taking a deep breath. Seriously? It's like they were waiting for Wally to have to deal with a ton of serious or semi-serious conversations before they talked to him. He was seriously not in the mood at the moment. Why was this his life?

Sighing, Wally nodded before  _inhaling_  his food. Artemis made quiet gagging noises in the background. Robin and Red Arrow were watching him with a mix of horror and awe. The rest were staring at him with just horror. The Circus members continued on as if nothing unusual was happening. For them, it probably wasn't unusual. Wally needed to eat a lot, but he didn't have a lot of time. Most of his meals were generally inhaled so he could get back to work.

Once he finished, he nodded to Aqualad and the two of them started heading towards the basement. They walked in silence until they reached the room. Aqualad gestured to the inside and said, "I'll let you here. I can turn the devices off once you are done."

Wally wanted to ask that Aqualad stay with him (what? Yeah, he was scared of the Justice League. Sue him. Everyone was scared of the Justice League) but refrained. That would have been unprofessional.

Taking a deep breath, Wally stepped into the meeting room. There was a large screen up against one wall. It was showing the Justice League, each of them sitting straight and tall and imposing in their individual chairs. Wally felt a part of him die at the sight.

He'd never actually  _seen_  the whole Justice League together? Sure, he'd seen images of a few of them teaming up to deal with this problem or that on television in the spare moments when he could watch the news, but that was it. There was one brief skirmish him and Garfield had encountered with Martian Manhunter, but that was just the Martian (and a very confusing memory for Wally; him and Garfield had been at the beginning of their hero careers and weren't anywhere near good enough for fighting one of the founding members of the Justice League, but they'd beaten Martian Manhunter anyways. Wally always had the feeling that the Martian had let them go that day, but he could never explain why). Seeing them all arrayed out in front of him was understandably intimidating.

Batman let the uncomfortable silence linger for a long moment before speaking, voice gravelly and dark, "Supersonic. We are here to discuss certain aspects of your alliance with the Team."

"Do you have any points that you would specifically like to address?" Wally asked, trying not to let his fear show. How could he not be afraid of these people, these powerful heroes?

Batman's voice was unreadable, expression smooth, "Where is your metahuman rehabilitation center? What technology are you using to negate the powers of metahumans? What is your identity? Who betrayed you?"

Wally's eyebrows rose, indignation unconsciously coming to the forefront, "I just told the team about the betrayal  _this morning_. And I was with the Team members the entire time. None of them sent a message. Do you have  _cameras_  in here?" Batman didn't answer. Wally felt his indignation grow into angry frustration, "Listen here, as far as I'm concerned, the Team is a subsidiary of the Justice League. Therefore, your actions are reflections of the Team and therefore can affect the state of our alliance. We did  _not_  agree to be  _spied_  on." He could feel speed building in his fists and legs.

Superman broke the tense feeling that had quickly overtaken the meeting, "Please, allow us to speak, Supersonic." He waited to see if Wally was going to fight it, but Wally pulled himself back together, staying silent. Superman nodded to him, "Good. You're right when you said that you consider the Team to be a subsidiary of the Justice League. All throughout our headquarters, there are video cameras and mics. We keep video evidence of our locations in order to keep our members safe."

"And if you happen to get information on us, all the better, right?" Wally asked, jaw tight with anger. He knew he shouldn't say anything. He knew he should just let it go and deal with it, but it  _burned_. He and his team had done  _everything_  to be accommodating and kind and understanding. The  _least_  they could do was be honest and upfront with Wally! Argh! The fury itched in his veins, a need to run that tore through his skin like fire, electric sparks crackling on the surface of his skin.

He breathed in, pulling the static back into himself, doing his best to control the raging tempest twining with his blood. Superman continued as if Wally hadn't said a thing, "As we do this with our own headquarters, we're going to do the same thing in the headquarters of our sidekicks, in order to keep them safe. Now, can we move on to the other questions?"

Wally continued swallowing the rage down, voice cold and hard when he responded, "I can't answer any of your other questions. The answers are on a need-to-know basis and you don't need to know for this alliance to work."

"We cannot trust you with the metahumans if you cannot trust us with their location!" Wonder Woman argued, leaning forward slightly on the table.

Shaking his head, Wally argued back, "Why not? They're detained. Even if they're not, there's no benefit for us to let the metas go back to the Light and if they're not in the Light and not hurting people, then why do you need to know where they are?"

"They're breaking the law," Batman growled, "They need to be placed in camps."

"And yet, you're conveniently forgetting that fact in order to use the Circus. Why is this any different? What if I told you that they were auxiliary Circus members? Because they are. As metahumans that we have rescued and not let go of, they are currently members of the Circus and will give us information and, if needed, soldiers." Wally threw back, furious at these humans, furious at their hypocrisy and their stupid rules and their stupid certainty that they were always right.

His response left them silent for a long moment. Wally and Batman stared at each other, something unspeakable passing through his cowl and Wally's goggles. Wally felt like the mood in the room had changed, like there was something less hostile in Batman's posture, something more… calculating. Wally wasn't entirely certain which he would prefer.

Green Arrow changed the subject nervously, "So, any points you'd like to bring up?"

"Mission assignments and detainment of captured metahumans were the only things on my list," Wally answered, voice low.

"Mission assignments?" Martian Manhunter asked, voice smooth and completely calm, unruffled.

It calmed Wally, made it easier for him to take a quick breath and answer in a normal voice, "Yes. From what I understand, you assign missions to the Team. Do you need us to inform you whenever the Circus gets a mission? We probably won't give you all the details, but at least an overview and a suspected timeline."

"Why would you give us this?" Aquaman asked, gaze intense.

Wally resisted the urge to scowl, "Because I'm trying to make this work. We're teaming up to take down the Light. We can't do that if missions are messed up because there aren't the right number of people at the base, or the wrong person is gone that day or whatever. I'm doing this because I thought it might help." Aquaman stared at him for a moment longer before, slowly, nodding.

Batman's voice was less of a growl and more of just a low, deep voice when he said, "Yes, we want you to inform us of your missions," he paused, "… as much information as you can give us."

Wally's eyes flickered to Batman in surprise. That almost sounded like an apology of sorts. As if he were letting Wally decide how much information to give Batman so Wally could keep his people safe. It was an unexpected admission. Wally was grateful for it.

"And the other one?" Wally prompted, refusing to thank Batman for the sudden gift he'd given Wally.

Superman's lips twitched down into a frown, but it was Wonder Woman who spoke, "We cannot simply allow you to disappear with the metahumans! We do not know you well enough to feel comfortable with leaving you with criminals!" She was fiery hot and full of passion about it, almost standing from her chair, expression severe, but still gorgeous.

Green Lantern sighed, "C'mon, can't we just let the kid have them? I mean, we don't know how many metas he's rescued, but we do know information on a lot of metas and they haven't appeared on the streets causing havoc, so where's the harm? From the evidence, he keeps them controlled wherever he takes them." Wally's hand twitched. He 'keeps them controlled?' Unbelievable. Maybe he just  _treats them like normal people_. Has the same effect. Wally swallowed down his anger again, trying to keep the fury off his skin.

Green Arrow shrugged, "GL's got a point."

Hawkwoman was scowling, "The metahumans need to be in camps! The camps were created for a reason!"

"He is not disagreeing," Martian Manhunter soothed, "He is saying that, for the benefit of the alliance and the benefit of the world when the Light is defeated, it is best to allow the Circus to detain any metahumans they captured in their own detainment facility." Hawkwoman calmed slightly, feathers shifting back into place. She was still glaring off to the side, though.

It was Batman who made the final decision after a long moment of having silent conversation with Superman, "You may keep the metahumans you capture."

Wally's shoulders slumped, words tasting like ash on his tongue, "Thank you." He shouldn't have to thank them! They should be thanking him for everything he's done for them and their little Team! He pulled his fury back into himself again, waiting. This wasn't the time. This  _wasn't_  the time.

Batman's inscrutable expression was almost a tipping point, but luckily Batman simply said, "There will be more questions later. You are dismissed for now." The screen went dark.

Wally wanted to break something.

They were treating him like he was some little kit, like he was some  _lesser being_! How dare they? He could destroy them if he wanted to, run to wherever their little headquarters were and take them apart piece by piece. They would be too slow to stop him. They were all too slow to stop him. They'd realize that he wasn't some low-level freak kid when he knocked them all flat on the ground!

Taking a grounding breath, Wally tried to keep pulling the anger back into himself, into his skin. It didn't work.

Lightning sparked off of his skin, crackling over his suit. He could feel the Speed Force gathering in his eyes, static merging with him as if it was a part of him. The world sped up and slowed down around him.

The door opened, revealing Cameron, Aqualad, Robin, and Red Arrow. The latter three stared at him with something akin to horror. Good. They should feel horrified. Wally felt sick at his thoughts but was too angry to care. He was sick of being tossed aside and disregarded and treated like he was worth less than humans.

Cameron's lips pursed, "That good, huh?"

Wally flashed out of the room.


	14. Chapter 14

WWWWWW

Wally slowed down somewhere in Northern Rhelasia. Ironically, despite the country being military led and an all around miserable place for literally everyone, they were pretty good about metahumans. They required metas to enlist, but that was required for all soldiers. And, sure, the training that the metas go through is a little more brutal and the assignments they're sent on are a little more suicidal and the punishments when they fail or disobey were normally death, but honestly? That was a lot better than most other places.

Wally felt his breathing start to regulate. The run hadn't really gotten him out of breath, but his anger had. His anger had rushed through his veins and filled him with such, such  _fury_  and  _fire_. Somedays, the Speed Force rushing through his veins just got to be  _so much,_ so  _intense_  that Wally felt like he was just going to fall apart into the electricity that swam in his blood. He was just going to merge with the Speed Force, disappear into it's welcoming folds like he was finally coming home.

Not yet, though. Wally had a team to protect, a people to save. He didn't have time for dreams of falling into the Speed Force the way one would fall into the arms of a loved one.

Sighing, Wally hunkered down, running his hands repeatedly through his hair.

This was just… just a colossal mess. And there really wasn't any one person to blame for it. Wally supposed that he could just blame the Light and be done with it, but this wasn't really their fault either. If it was, then Wally would have to take a moment to be real impressed before he took them down. But seriously. There had been fear and frustration surrounding the metahuman race since they were first discovered. People hated what they didn't understand. That was human nature. And these new humans, these people who were endlessly complex and who represented mystery after unsolvable mystery were made a target of that human nature.

It was – not quite understandable. Wally wasn't sure what it was. Sad? Inevitable? He wasn't sure. He did know that it sucked and that it wouldn't be an easy fix.

Who did he think he was? Thinking he could change the world by getting a couple of kid-heroes to maybe sort of like a select group of metas. What would that do? Who would that convince? The big league heroes were obviously way more opposed to metas than their offspring. And they were the ones that really had sway out in the world.

No! Wally sat back further on his haunches. He couldn't afford to think that way. He was doing this for a reason. Besides, the main purpose of this alliance was to destroy the Light. Anything else was secondary and relied on long term plans and a whole lot of hoping. He could do this. It didn't matter if he didn't do this. It was all going to work out. Wally took a deep breath.

And promptly choked on it when a bolt of reddish-yellow lightning skidded to a stop in front of him.

He was on his feet in femtoseconds, hands held out in a defensive position.

The lightning bolt in front of him materialized into a man with his hands raised in the universal 'I'm innocent' gesture. Wally didn't put his arms down. He took a moment to scrutinize the man in front of him. The former lightning bolt was definitely older than Wally. There was stubble along his chin, a light gravelly blonde that just made him look slovenly, not ruggedly handsome. His blonde hair was shaggy, falling into crystal blue eyes, splaying across tanned skin. The man was wearing a bright red spandex suit, a jagged lightning bolt displayed across his chest, cowl down. His gloves and boots were the same obnoxious yellow as the lightning bolt symbol.

The man swallowed, staring at Wally with something akin to awe, "You're a speedster, too."

" _Too_?" Wally asked sharply, trying to figure out what was going on. He was already in a bad mood, shaky and off-center after the meeting with the Justice League. He did  _not_  need this strange man making things worse for him.

The man shook his head, "Right, no, sorry. I'm sorry. I just… yeah, sorry. I'm a speedster. I got my powers about nine years ago, before all of the metahuman stuff started blowing up. I wanted to use my powers for good, be a superhero like all those other heroes, but the meta-hate campaigns became really heavy right when I was leaning towards the end of my training period. Any new heroes were being crucified. I'd seen some of them being killed because of what they were trying to do. So, I hid. I saved people when I could, but-,"

Wally cut him off, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that I'd asked for your life story. How did you find me?"

"Find you?" The man blinked, "You ran right past me. I'm a speedster too, remember? So, I watched you go by in normal time. I hadn't even realized that there were other speedsters out there. I had to follow you."

"You're a meta and you haven't heard of the Circus?" Wally asked incredulously.

The man's eyes about popped out of his head, "You're a part of the  _Circus_? Seriously? That's insane! You look like you're just a kid!"

"Wait," Wally said, finally relaxing his defensive pose, putting one hand out in a stop motion, "Wait, I'm confused. You're confusing me. Let's go back to the life story real quick."

The man's brows furrowed, and he looked at Wally like  _he_  was the crazy one. Nevertheless, the man continued his story, "I worked in the police department and they were one of the first to start testing their members. I was assigned to the metahuman hunting task force and they checked all of us. I realized that I couldn't stay there. My wife wouldn't be left behind, so we ran together. I've formed a group of metahumans. We've been trying to gather information on anti-metahuman forced around the world. We're getting info on how the camps are run, on the experiments that our country and other countries perform on metas. We're going to expose everything!"

"You're that deep into the meta underground and you don't recognize me? Most of the meta underground whether they've interacted with the Circus or not at the  _very least_  has a basic understanding of what abilities are in the Circus. You seriously didn't know?" Wally asked incredulously. He immediately followed up the question with another question, "And why haven't I heard about you? It sounds like you've been doing this for  _years_.  _What is going on_? Who even  _are you_?"

"Oh, right!" The man exclaimed, rubbing at the back of his neck in exactly the same way Wally always had, "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm the Flash. That's my codename or whatever. But you can call me Barry. Barry Allen. Speedsters got to stick together, right?"

Wally couldn't respond, his entire world falling out from underneath him. Barry Allen.

Barry Allen.

Wally knew a Barry Allen. His Uncle Barry who he rarely got to see, but who had been really nice in the times he'd seen him. His Uncle Barry who was married to the head-strong, stubborn, totally in love Aunt Iris. His Uncle Barry who was a forensic scientist – aka, worked in the police department.

Wally's mouth dropped open, " _Uncle Barry_?"

The man (Uncle Barry?) flinched back, eyes widening dramatically. His own mouth fell open and he almost shrieked, " _Wally_!"

" _Uncle Barry!_ " Wally cried, falling back onto his haunches and clutching his hair in his hands again. He hissed to himself, " _What_  is going  _on_?"

"Oh my God!" Uncle Barry was repeating to himself, hands clutched in his own hair, but still standing. He kept repeating it to himself, eyes still blown wide and shocked, "Oh my  _God_."

Wally gave up and plopped down on the grass, "Why is this my  _life_?"

Barry laughed, a little hysterical at the edges, "What are the odds we'd both end up speedsters even though we're only related by law, not blood?"

"Uncle  _Barry_ ," Wally repeated to himself one last time, more than a little mind blown.

"Wait, wait. My turn. Do I get your life story?" Barry asked, sitting across from Wally on the grass.

"No. Nope. Never," Wally answered, drawing himself back. This didn't mean anything. Just because they were related didn't mean a thing. Barry had put together a group of information seeking metahumans that have been active and completely hidden for  _years_. He could be dangerous. Wally hated himself for being so suspicious.

Barry seemed a little surprised by the quick shut down, "Oh, um… okay. So, the Circus?"

"Let's just say that we've got more in common than being speedsters. I started the Circus about a year ago after we escaped from the camp we'd been in," Wally answered, finally starting to calm down. This was common knowledge among the metahuman underground. He had no idea why Barry hadn't already heard about this. Maybe that was why Barry's group had lasted so long: they kept themselves so isolated that no one even knew to go after them.

There was something dark and  _sad_  in Barry's voice when he choked out, "Camp? You were in a camp? Wally, I told you that we're getting information and proof on what they do in the camps. I know what happens in them. You… how long were you in there?"

Wally just… he shut down. This wasn't show and tell. This wasn't some fated meeting that ended in sob stories and dramatic hugs. This was the real world. His jaw clenched, and he answered, "That's none of your business. Look, Uncle Barry. I don't know you. You and Aunt Iris disappeared, what? Eight years ago? I was  _seven_  when you left. I didn't even properly know that you were gone! My parents wouldn't tell me anything about the metahuman epidemic or whatever. It's been eight years since we've seen each other, and I don't know about you, but I'm not the same kid that I was back then. I do not know you. I don't know your organization. I'm not going to put my team at risk because of some familial ties we have and a vague memory of you when I was a child."

Barry's eyes were wide, a shocked expression on his face, "Oh… okay. I get it. No, I really do! You're right, we can't just go back to where we were before. We need to get to know each other again. I was just… so… shocked to see someone from before this whole mess. And especially to see the nephew that always adored me!" He finished with a light, teasing grin.

Wally's own lips tilted slightly in response, remembering himself when he was that age, "You're the reason I got into science. I thought science was so cool because my awesome Uncle Barry did science."

Barry's smile folded into something gentler and infinitely fond, "Yeah? Well, I'm glad I left an impact on you before I went away. If… if there was any way I could have known that you were going to end up like me, I would have taken you with me. I should have taken you with me anyways. I just… no, I wouldn't have done it. You were such a cute little kid and I couldn't put you on the run like that."

Wally rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, sighing, "Doesn't matter now." They sat in silence for a moment before Wally frowned thoughtfully, "This is completely random and out of the blue, but do you have any people in Australia?" He was remembering news of a metahuman group that was completely unknown joining up with the Light. They had been based in Australia. It was a long shot, but…

Barry peered at Wally suspiciously, "We might have sent a couple people over there recently, why?"

"Fifteen of them?" Wally asked curiously.

Barry's eyebrows rose, "Now I'm definitely concerned. How do you know all of that?"

"They joined the Light," Wally explained.

"Yeah, we sent them undercover there. This isn't explaining how you know all of this," Barry threw back, eyebrows drawn together on his forehead.

Wally shook his head. This was unbelievable. He sighed, "I've got someone undercover in the Light, too. They told me that fifteen metas from a previously unknown group in Australia had just joined the Light."

"Wait," Barry held up a hand, "Are you saying you've got  _one single person_  in the Light? You sent someone in alone?"

"We always send them in alone. The Circus's attack team isn't all that big, Uncle Barry. There's only so many people we can put undercover. And by so many, I mean one. You have to do what you have to do," Wally explained, a little confused about why Barry was so upset.

"Wally, I just told you that I put  _fifteen_ people undercover into the Light!  _Fifteen_! And you only put one person!" Barry tried to argue.

"Again, we only have so many people! There are only eight of us!" Wally threw back.

Barry let out a breathless sort of laugh, "Only eight? Wow. Although I never got the details about the Circus, - you guys seemed to be doing good things, so there was no need to investigate you – I've heard people talking about the Circus and what they've done. You guys have pulled off some incredible things. And you only have eight members?"

Wally shifted uncomfortably, "You know, a lot of meta underground groups only have a handful of people. It's hard to find people willing to fight. We ran into a group just the other day that had less members than us."

Barry's face did a weird spasm, but he didn't say anything, instead seeming to prefer lapsing into silence. Wally followed suit.

There was a long moment between them. It wasn't quite stilted, but it wasn't quite comfortable either. Finally, Barry blew out a breath, pulling his knees up and dropping his chin onto them, "Look, kiddo. You've obviously been through a lot. Definitely more than me-,"

Wally interrupted him again, "There's no 'more than' or 'less than' when it comes to trauma. Trauma is trauma and it all sucks and no one likes it." It was one of the founding principles of not only the Circus, but the city they created. It didn't matter how bad you considered your trauma in terms of other people's. All that mattered was that it was trauma and it's hurting you. Wally had always been a firm believer in that. Especially when he realized that some of his team members hadn't been coming to him or Cameron about their problems because him and Cameron had been in the camps longer and therefore 'had it worse.'

Barry smiled, bright and sincere, "Yeah, I guess so. Anyways, I realize that we've both been through a lot and, like you said, we aren't the same people we were years ago. But I really hope that we can reconcile and become… I don't know, a family again. I know that sounds cheesy. And, to start that off, I'd like to introduce you to my family. My team, the people who run my organization with me. You can see your Aunt Iris again."

It was tempting. And there were reasons Wally should say no: he had a budding alliance to work out, he had a team to take care of, he had a city to help, he had people to rescue, he had an organization to dismantle. He didn't have  _time_  for a new metahuman group. He didn't have time to rekindle familial relationships. He didn't have the emotional energy to rekindle them.

At the same time, there were reasons Wally should say yes: this was a huge underground meta group with  _fifteen_  spies in the Light. Wally actually kind of wanted to create that relationship with his family, the only ones left that would accept him. He needed to learn more about his powers and Barry had been a speedster for two years more than Wally had. The information he could gain would be astronomical. They could avoid future misunderstandings.

Which overcame the other? Were the pros more beneficial or the cons more harmful? Wally tapped a finger against his thigh absentmindedly. Wait! He could at the very least protect a part of the alliance. If he asked permission from his co-leader, then he could use this as an outing for the alliance.

Wally said, "Give me a second to check with me team." Barry nodded amicably, and Wally put a finger to his comm piece, activating it, "Hey, Icicle, you there?"

" _Yeah, what's up?_ " Cameron's voice filtered back through.

"Are you with my temporary co-leader still?" Wally asked. He almost said Aqualad before he remembered that they didn't want anyone to know that the Team and the Circus had teamed up. That was still strictly need-to-know information and Barry really did not need to know.

Cameron's voice was confused when he answered, " _Yes?_ "

"Can you give him the comms for a moment or something. I need to talk to him," Wally explained.

He could hear Cameron narrowing his eyes over the comms, " _You and I are talking about this when you get back. But yeah, just give me a second._ "

The next voice that spoke over the comms was Aqualad, " _Supersonic. Is there something you need?_ "

"Hey, I'm with the leader of another underground metahuman group and they're offering to bring me to meet their team. Am I good to go do that real quick?" Wally asked.

Aqualad paused before asking hesitantly, " _Why would you ask my permission for such a thing?_ "

"I've been gone a lot recently and I know that our groups are on shaky ground anyways. I don't want to bail if you think I need to spend more time with the team." Wally explained. He kind of felt bad leaving the team with Aqualad so often, but it wasn't his fault he was so busy!

" _That is alright with me. Do you know when you will return?_ " Aqualad questioned back, voice smoother now that he apparently understood what was going on.

"No clue, sorry. Thanks for being cool about all this. I'll try to be back sometime tonight. Supersonic out." Wally said, turning off the comms after Aqualad signed off as well.

He turned back to Barry, "I guess I'm good to meet your team."

"I want to ask about this temporary co-leader thing, but based on how closed lipped you seem to be about a lot of things, I'm not even going to try," Barry admitted with a smile. Wally ducked his head like he used to when he was little and trying not to smile too much in front of his parents. Barry reached out as if to ruffle Wally's hair, but pulled back before he actually made contact. Wally wasn't sure if he was disappointed or not. Barry stood up, "Alright then, ready to go meet my team?"

"Ready," Wally nodded.

And then they were off.

It was the most peculiar feeling, running with someone else. That feeling of the Speed Force building up in his veins, raging like fire under his skin, an electrical storm that couldn't be harnessed? That feeling spun between the two of them as they ran, charging each other, feeding each other. It was the greatest kind of lightning, uncaged, unfettered, free to  _fly_.

They were both smiling when they finally stopped running somewhere in France. They glanced at each other with wide, bright, startled eyes. Barry laughed, "Well, I wasn't expecting  _that_!"

"We really,  _really_  need to compare notes about our abilities," Wally said, eyes shining like they hadn't in a long time. Running had always been his freedom. In a life where his ability to run had only been allowed when it was beneficial to the camp scientists, the need to run was almost endless. If he wasn't running, he always felt like something was missing. Maybe that was the way he lived in those camps. Maybe it was an integral part of their speed. Maybe Wally would never know. But here was someone else with the same powers as him, someone he already knew, someone he was planning on creating a working relationship with. Someone else who could understand the thrill of running.

Barry started to lead the way into the compound, a huge, flat building that spanned acres. Barry was explaining, "This was an old military base. Maybe World War I, maybe World War II. I'm not sure of the specifics. They designed it to be especially confusing, so it took us a while to get used to it. People would actually get lost in the depths of it when there were less people. Now, we've got departments in a good portion of the building, so if you get lost, there's someone who can point you in the right direction. If you're a member, of course. If you're a guest or an intruder, then you're told to wait while a higher-up comes to collect you. That's what you are currently – a guest. So, uh, try not to memorize routes?"

"Really?" Wally asked incredulously, but he dutifully kept his eyes either on Barry's back or on the ground. Honestly, he was impressed by the set up. This was a perfect place to put a massive organization like this. He asked curiously, "How did you get the building?"

Barry's voice was shifty when he responded, "We might know someone, who knows someone, who knows an important French government official who might oversee protection and allocation of historical buildings."

Well, knowing someone who knows someone seemed like a valuable thing in an underground group dedicated to information gathering, so Wally wasn't going to judge. It was almost like Barry was afraid that Wally was going to judge him for participating in something that was practically illegal. Which was ridiculous.

Barry continued his speech, "We've got bases in a lot of countries and at least one representative for each department is at each base. This is our largest and our home base and it's where the most members are located. Not everyone lives here. There's a good portion of people who have normal lives or, at the very least, have families that have normal lives who support them when they're not at the base. We employ humans and metahumans equally. I mean, Iris and I were the ones who founded it and we're a human and metahuman couple, so it seems ridiculous that we'd discriminate, you know? We've got a health department, a food department, transportation, technology, undercover, diplomatic, housing, and coordination department. We try to be a strictly non-violent group. If necessary, we are trained to protect ourselves and others, but again, we try to avoid it. We do this partially because we're trying to promote peace and partially because we want to avoid attention currently. We gather the intel, we get it out to the public, then we watch the organization topple. For all that a lot of humans have a lot against us, they're still fair and understanding. It's not their fault that they were thrust into this situation. We just have to show them the damage that's being done."

"Is this the spiel you give new recruits?" Wally teased. Barry rolled his eyes. Scoffing lightly, Wally said, "But, being serious right now: why haven't you released anything about the camps?" It hurt to think about the camps and it hurt worse to talk about them, but it was what needed to be done.

Expression falling a little bit, Barry winced, "We really do try our best to save everyone, but it's not always possible. In the seven years that the camps have been open, there have been – to our knowledge – only eight successful escapes. I'm assuming you're one of them?"

Wally nodded slowly, "Yeah, and I know three of the others."

"Seriously?" Barry asked, turning slightly to face Wally, "Wow. I guess you guys band together or whatever. We don't have any that escaped camps in our group. And since it's so ridiculously hard and the conditions, from what we've been able to tell from afar, are so awful, we don't feel comfortable putting our people into the camps, even to get information." Wally wanted to sneer. 'Awful?' The camps were  _awful_. That was putting it very,  _very_  mildly.

"Yeah, I get that," Wally admitted, voice quiet.

Barry frowned, "I'll bet you do." He sounded infinitely sad again.

Wally changed the subject, "So, you really have humans working here? What's the human to metahuman ratio?"

Tilting his head back and squinting his eyes, Barry guessed, "Probably one metahuman to every three humans. I don't know. Something like that."

"Wait, you have more humans than metahumans?" Wally stared at him in shock. The idea was completely foreign to him. Humans gathering in such large quantities to  _help_  metas? How was that possible?

"Well, yeah. I mean, there are a lot more humans in the world than there are metahumans. It makes sense statistically. Why so shocked? Don't you work with humans?" Barry explained, scratching at the back of his neck and staring down at Wally with concern.

"Maybe some human  _benefactors_ , but nothing else. If there are humans willing to help us, they prefer to be distanced from the situation. But we don't let any humans join our ranks. And there are no humans with the auxiliary members either," Wally answered, shaking his head in wonder. Humans, willing to work this closely with metahumans. The idea was ludicrous.

Except, Barry was looking at Wally like  _he_  was the insane one, "I'm going to assume that the auxiliary members are the metas you've saved and who never really popped back up in the public eye?" Wally nodded, and Barry shook his own head in wonder, "No humans. Even with benefactors, though, that would be so difficult! Metahumans have zero resources. Once they run, everything is frozen out. They have whatever they can carry on their backs. How do you run an organization like that? And a lot of metas can't get jobs because more and more workplaces are screening for metas. Most metas didn't finish out their education, so practical skills are limited. You have a lot of people with a lot of different powers gathered together where one single person going off could start a chain reaction. How do you  _do_  that?"

Wally shrugged uncomfortably, "You and I started our organizations at different times. When you started yours, the world was just starting to really  _notice_  metahumans. I think humans were a lot more willing to join up with metahumans at that time. And as time went on, humans would continue to join because there were a lot of humans in your group. Now, though? With metahuman hate running so deeply? There's no way a human would join up with a metahuman." Well, that obviously wasn't true based on Wally's own temporary alliance, but still. The point still stood.

Honestly, he couldn't imagine things being any different. This was just what he'd always had to work with. Besides, as much as he understood that hating humans was wrong, it would be a long time before the part of him that was afraid of humans would go away. Because that kind of fear doesn't go away that quickly.

Barry frowned, "Yeah, I guess so." He still looked uncomfortable with the idea of Wally running his organization without humans. Whatever. Each to their own, right?

All of a sudden, Barry stopped. Bemused, Wally realized that he really would have zero clue where he was going if he suddenly tried to get back to the front. Then again, with how fast he ran, it wouldn't be  _too_  bad. Still, there were a lot of turns and not a lot of room to gain speed.

Opening a door, Barry stuck his head inside, "Hey guys! I brought someone to come see you!"

"Who could you have possibly brought?" A male voice called back, obviously confused.

Barry grinned and motioned towards Wally with a sweep of his arm. Together, they walked into the room.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I missed a week of updating! My computer was trying it's level best to die and it was a struggle to even write the chapter. Double update this week, though!

WWWWWW

"You brought us a kid?" A man's voice asked disdainfully, a disgusted expression taking over his lithe features.

The man who'd spoken before sighed, "Did you kidnap him? Do we need to go take him back to his parents?"

"No," another man breathed, hair hanging long and shaggy around his shoulders, "Look at that suit. This one has superpowers!"

"That doesn't mean that he doesn't need to go home to his family," A woman with chestnut hair sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Wally was almost overwhelmed in the conversation that washed over him, new people talking about him as if he wasn't there. The only thing that kept him centered, that kept him from bolting out of the room, was the wash of fiery red hair directly in front of him, huge emerald eyes settled over a delicate nose and a gaping mouth. Iris whispered, " _Wally_?"

The rest of the room fell silent, turning their heads between Barry's beaming smile and Iris's shock. More than a little self-conscious, Wally rubbed the back of his neck, waving with his other hand, "Hi Aunt Iris." Honestly, he was a little impressed that Iris had been able to recognize him. Barry certainly hadn't recognized him with his cowl up. Somehow, though, Iris had been able to recognize Wally with his eyes and most of his face covered and eight years older than the last time she'd seen him. Was that what they called a woman's intuition?

Iris let out a little sob, holding her hand over her mouth, " _Wally_!" The other occupants of the room were thoroughly confused now, glancing at Wally with suspicion written over their features.

Swallowed harshly, Iris blinked back tears and held out her arms, "Can I… can I hug you?"

Wally's shoulders tensed slightly. He didn't really  _do_  hugs. The closest anyone would get was Cameron's one-armed momentary hug things. That was it. But… maybe for his Aunt Iris he could. Just the once. Cautiously, Wally walked up to her (he was just a hint taller than her now, which felt more than a little weird. Had he really grown that much?) and tucked himself into her arms the way he used to. It wasn't quite right, and he didn't fit the same, and there was this lingering sense of touch-is-wrong-don't-hurt-me, but… it felt good. Wally didn't think he'd do it again for a long time, but it felt good.

After a few seconds, though, he untangled himself from her arms, not quite willing to stay in her embrace for much longer. Shifting slightly, Wally waved to the other people in the room, "So, I'm Wally as I'm sure you've gathered. I'd say you'd probably know me better as Supersonic, but that didn't seem to work with Barry, so probably not."

But the long-haired guy's expression lit up like Christmas had come early, " _Supersonic_? Seriously? Guys.  _Guys_! This is Supersonic! He led the single largest camp breakout in the history of the camps! He's the leader of the Circus!"

Barry pouted, "How come you know this and I don't?"

"Because you don't have to go through every little bit of technological information that we receive." The long-haired man pouted back. Wally had to resist shifting closer to Iris and therefore farther from the long-haired man.

To avoid the intense stare the chestnut-haired woman behind the long-haired man was giving him, Wally turned his head to look to the side. And came face to face with someone's head. And only their head.

Yelping, Wally scrambled back, across the room in less than a picosecond, hand clutching his heart. Now that he was further away, he saw that the head was attached to a long mass of  _skin_  that was apparently someone's neck? He followed the neck (?) back to the man who had originally spoken when Wally was still out in the hallway. Okay, that was weird. Wally tried not to be judgmental of other people's powers, but that was weird.

The stretchy man's eyebrows raised almost off his forehead (and Wally meant that much more literally than he  _ever_  wanted to in his life) as he turned to Barry, "You found another speedster?"

"Okay," Barry said, chuckling a little bit, "This didn't quite go as planned. Let's start this over again. Everyone, this is my nephew, Wally. He's Iris's brother's son. He has superspeed. He is Supersonic and has done those things that Cisco said. I just happened to see him running past me and I had to follow. I hadn't even realized that he was my nephew until he recognized my name. I brought him here after that. Wally, this is Julian," he pointed to the lean faced man who had been offended at being brought a kid, "and this is Caitlin," the woman smiled and gave a pretty little wave, "next to her is Ronnie," a nice man with his hand around the woman's waist smiled and nodded, "and next to  _him_  is Stein," this was an elderly man who was leaning back against a table, "and Cisco," that was the long-haired man, "and last but not least, Patrick." The final one was the stretchy guy.

Barry gestured to the group, "I'll let them further introduce themselves."

Julian rolled his eyes, but said, "I'm in charge of Coordination here. I also go by Doctor Alchemy, but I try to avoid being him as often as possible. I'm human, but I've got an artefact that gives me powers."

Caitlin smiled, "Julian and I have in common that we don't really like becoming our alter egos. I go by Killer Frost. I'm a meta. I'm in charge of the Health Department, which is also the science group."

"I'm Caitlin's husband, also a meta, and Stein and I make up Firestorm. I'm in charge of Transportation," Ronnie said, smiling down at his wife. Wally wasn't entirely certain what he meant when he said 'Stein and I' made up Firestorm. What was a Firestorm and why did it require two people? And why were Caitlin and Julian so against their 'alter egos?'

Stein sniffed and said, "Well, I am in charge of the Food Department. I'm actually quite an excellent cook, you see. And, as Ronald said, together we make Firestorm, so, obviously, I am also a metahuman. I also dabble in the science department."

Iris added in quickly, "I run Housing. Human!"

Cisco bowed a little bit and said, "I am the lord and master of all things technological. I'm also the resident engineer, genius, etc. I go by Vibe on missions. I'm a metahuman."

Patrick grinned at him, "Plastic Man's the name. Obviously a meta. I'm in charge of Undercover. Well, Barry is officially head of Diplomacy, but the two of us kind of share both Undercover and Diplomacy."

Wally narrowed his eyes at Barry, "You said that you have roughly a three to one ratio of humans to metahumans, but your leadership group is almost entirely metas."

Barry blinked at him, then shrugged, unconcerned, "Coincidence?" Wally frowned.

Barry opened his mouth to say something, but Iris beat him to it, "So what is this Circus group? I don't think I've heard about it. I might remember the name being mentioned, but I think it was decided that they weren't a threat."

Wally grimaced, "We aren't  _meant_  to be a threat to other meta underground groups as long as the groups aren't hurting anyone. We're only meant to be a threat to people who are hurting metas. Basically, when I escaped camp with the other eight members of the main Circus team, I decided I was going to create a group that would save metahumans. The people that escaped with me decided that they would join me while I was at it. This was about a year ago. Right now, we're working on dismantling the Light. I've got someone in the Light right now."

"Wait, you have  _one person_  in the Light?" Patrick asked, horrified.

"Yes, yes, I know!" Wally exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air, "I already had this argument with Uncle Barry. There are  _not_  enough of us to spare more than one person undercover." The group stared at him with horror. Wally resisted the urge to throw his arms in the air again.

Julian had narrowed his eyes, "The Circus is the group who'll go to a place that's enslaving metahumans and humans and then only take the metahumans with them, right?" His voice was accusing. Iris's eyes widened, and she looked at Wally, something like hurt in her eyes.

Wally refused to feel the curl of guilt gathering in his chest, "That's right."

"But, why?" Iris asked, voice sounding so hurt.

Wally sighed harshly, running a hand through his hair, "I seem to be answering this question a lot lately. What else am I supposed to do? The humans don't want to be rescued by metas. Do you know I watched a human break the arm of one of my teammates because he'd rather die in the hole he was in than be rescued by Changeling? Besides, I don't have anywhere to bring them to recover. The metas I save aren't always the keenest on humans. I can't bring the humans to a place that I swear is safe for the metahumans I've rescued because, for a lot of metas, a place isn't really safe if there are humans in it."

"Do you believe that too?" Caitlin asked softly.

Lips twitching into a deeper frown, Wally shrugged, "I mean, I know I can protect myself if a human comes at me, so I know that a place is safe if there are humans there. I don't hate humans or anything like that. There's nothing wrong with humans. I just can't help but be scared of them a little bit. After the camps…" Wally trailed off, not really willing to go into detail and knowing that he didn't need to.

Iris was giving him a tragic look from off to the side, expression simultaneously fierce. Good to know she was just as determined to protect her family as she'd been all those years ago.

Sensing the rising awkwardness in the room after Wally's impromptu revelation, Caitlin tried for another smile, "Well, welcome to our little group! It really is nice to meet you. Barry and Iris have told us a little bit about their little nephew, but you've obviously changed a lot over the years. Are you still interested in science?"

"Of course," Wally scoffed, working with her to try to keep the tone light.

Cisco's head perked up, "Why didn't you start with that? We've got all sorts of awesome science people in here! I mean, I'm obviously the best, but- Ow!" Cisco cried, grabbing at the head that Barry had just slapped.

Barry pouted, "I'm obviously the best! C'mon man, let me have my own nephew!"

Cisco pouted right back, "You get everyone else! Everyone is like, ooh, look at Barry, he's so smart and nice and kind! I want your nephew!"

Sending a quick look at Iris and realizing that she still had something of a tragic expression on her face, Wally commented idly, "In case anyone was wondering about my opinion, I choose Aunt Iris."

Iris laughed out loud, eyes shining and bright, "And that's the right choice."

Barry sighed, "I can't argue with that. I'd pick Iris too."

Cisco narrowed his eyes at Iris and drew his finger across his neck, "I'm going to get him to come to my side."

"I dare you to try," Iris sent back, narrowing her own emerald eyes back at him. Wally soaked in the comfortable feeling of a group of people who had been through thick and thin with each other, surviving a world that would condemn them just for existing. Well, some of them. In a way, that made the moment even more beautiful. They were so close even though some were humans and some were metahumans. For Wally and the world he grew up in, seeing something like this was like a dream come true. It was more than he could have ever imagined happening. Humans and metahumans on equal footing, leading an organization to help  _people_  all over the world.

In a way, this was what Wally was kind of hoping for with the alliance that he built with the Team. Through the hard work they'd go through together and the successful destruction of the Light, there was a chance that the Team would see metahumans for what they were. They'd see that metahumans don't deserve the treatment they'd been getting. They'd work to help the Circus and other underground metahuman groups to free themselves and the others in the camps. From the things that Wally had experienced, the things he's seen in his life, that dream seemed so far away, so hopeless. He'd witnessed,  _experienced_ , so many atrocities against his kind. How could the humans possibly move past that, move past what they had done, what they had thought? How could they all work together and live in a world of freedom for everyone?

And yet, right there in front of him was the evidence that his dream could come true, that he and the rest of the Circus could really change the hearts and the minds of the Team and free metahumans. It would, obviously, take a long time to break down the distrust between the two species, but it would be worth it. And, maybe, it wouldn't be as long as Wally had thought. This organization that his Uncle was leading was proof that there were plenty of humans out there that were more than willing to accept metahumans and help them out of the place they found themselves in.

As Wally watched the humans and metahumans in the room walk and talk around and with each other, he felt something in him settle. There was hope for the future yet.


	16. Chapter 16

WWWWWW

Wally hadn't exactly fallen into this new group like a long-lost relative would in the movies or in books, but it was a close thing. The way that this team – this enormous team that boasted hundreds upon hundreds of members across the world – acted together, like one huge family, was a little like people acted in the city Wally built. Everyone was there for each other and everyone knew each other. Trauma was shared among them, but so was love and loyalty. In Wally's city, each person in there would die for the others, no matter what kind of arguments they got into or what kind of disagreements they had. That same kind of feeling permeated the military base that Wally was in.

It was in the colorful murals splattered over a lot of the walls. It was in the brightly decorated doors of the rooms where people could stay overnight. It was in the smiles on each person's face as they walked by in outfits ranging from suits to fancy dresses to casual to pajamas to activewear.

Wally's head was practically on swivel as they walked, and he knew that it was amusing to the other members. He asked curiously, "I know you said that not everyone lived here, but do a lot of people live on base?"

"No, not really. Not even Iris and I live here. We've got a house nearby under fake names. That's how most of us do it, if we even need fake names. Like I said earlier, a lot of us have normal jobs in addition for this. The dorms are just here for people who need to stay the night for a project, or who are recovering from something, or just want some away time from their families. Sometimes, when people are on the run from the Collection Agency or whatever it's called in other countries, they'll lay low here for a while before we get them settled somewhere. Does the Circus all live together?" Barry answered, finishing off with a question of his own.

Inwardly twitching a little bit at giving away information even if this was relatively well known, Wally answered, "Yeah, we all live in our headquarters together. Or, occasionally, a safehouse that closer to the mission or whatever."

"Those must be pretty big safehouses," Ronny mused.

Tilting his head to the side, Wally asked, "Why? I mean, yeah there are eight of us, but we share rooms."

Ronny blinked at him, "What about the others? Aren't there people who you rescue who stay with you? I thought I heard something about there being a lot of metahumans who go with you and then aren't seen again. I guess people just assumed that they joined the Circus."

"Oh," Wally said with dawning understanding. The people who lived in the city. He'd asked the people who lived in the city if they wanted the metahuman underground to know about them and they'd all said no. That city for metahumans was as far removed from everything as Wally could possibly make it. As far as he knew, the only people who knew about the city were the Circus members and the people of Gorilla City who had helped Wally build the city. Well, and now the Light knew. Barry knew that there were auxiliary Circus members who were the people that were rescued, but he didn't know about the city. Wally finished lamely with, "Yeah, them."

The group was staring at him. Julian huffed, " _Yeah_ , them. So? Where do they go?"

Wally glared at him, "That's none of your business."

"We're just two underground metahuman groups. Why wouldn't it be our business? We could start a program to get metahumans to safety wherever you're keeping these people," Julian protested, a frown on his face.

Wally sent him a straight look, "Then you can come to me and I'll arrange it."

"That sounds inconvenient at best. And being in charge of coordination, I would know." Julian shot back.

Wally raised an eyebrow, "The safety of people who have trusted their lives to me is ' _inconvenient at best_?'"

Julian smirked, and Wally was left mentally flailing. With one last smug look, Julian announced, "I rather like you. I didn't really mean all that I said."

Squinting his eyes, Wally muttered, "This day is just confusion after confusion." The group laughed.

Ronnie looked at him over Caitlyn's shoulder, "So, what's leading the Circus like? What's the team like?"

For a moment, Wally inwardly panicked, thinking that Ronnie had meant 'the Team' instead of 'the team' as in Wally's team. Once again, he cursed the Team for having such a stupid name. Who on earth thought that had been a good idea? He shrugged a little bit and answered, "Stressful, mainly. I mean, we all help each other out, but there are a whole lot more kids in the Circus than there are adults. We have a limited amount of knowledge of the practical skills like financials and, well, cooking and running a household and  _being adults_. Only Black Canary had a really good fighting foundation. But she's awesome at it and she's been doing her best to teach us, too. Living together was a challenge at first. I think we're finally starting to smooth ourselves out on that range. I mean, with all of us fresh out of the camps, there were a lot of frayed nerves and people weren't too fond of, well, other people. But I think we've got ourselves together quite a bit. We're all family now. And there are still fights and all that, but we've got a system in place. And Maser, Changeling, and I have learned how to cook, so that's good for that. Black Canary and Ballistic work together to grow a lot of the food we eat when we can be there to take care of the food. Icicle and Firehawk have got the financials pretty much down. We all add our own little bit to making sure that living together is as comfortable as it can be." He didn't realize he was rambling until he stopped and looked up to see the adults around him giving him looks that were simultaneously sad and smothering. That kind of look that you give a sad, but really, really cute puppy. Wally did not appreciate the look he was getting.

Barry gave him a little wistful smile, "You really did build your own little family with this group, didn't you?"

Wally nodded back before shrugging slightly again, "Well, you did the same with this group, didn't you?"

"Like uncle, like nephew," Iris teased, her hand slipping into Barry's and squeezing gently. Wally ducked his head.

"So, tour's over, kiddo. What's next?" Patrick asked, head tilted so it was almost entirely flopped over onto his neck. His powers were really going to take a while to get used to.

Frowning, Wally wrinkled his nose, "I don't know. Where do you guys want this to go? It would be beneficial if we could get some kind of information trade between us, especially with our interests in the Light, but I'm not sure how strong of an alliance I can promise. We just rescued a new underground meta group recently and I'm also trying to form a strong alliance with another team. As in, we're living in the same headquarters and I'm sharing leadership with their leader. So, I'm swamped right now. I can get Icicle and Maser to help facilitate the information exchange and we can work with just that until the Light is taken down and then we can work towards a stronger alliance. This is all, of course, unofficial musing. I need to talk to my team about all of this before I can commit to any sort of agreement between us. I think they should be fine with what I've said, but I need to check. This is all going to be a lot of work for all of us." He sighed and briefly touched his finger to the bridge of his nose, "A lot of work."

Cisco snorted, "Anyone ever told you that you're too uptight?"

"Too often. You know, before I made the Light a priority, my team was pressuring me to go on a vacation?" Wally shook his head.

Barry smiled softly at him, "Well, maybe after this whole mess is over, you all can go on vacation. I'm good with what you said if the rest of them are. I can get you something to use to communicate with us while we're figuring out this arrangement. Um, we don't know whatever other group you're working with, but we'd like it if they knew as little about us as possible. I can excuse you and the rest of the Circus knowing about us because you're family, but anyone else is too much. We survive on anonymity."

"Yeah, I get that. They won't be happy, but it's fine. They should be used to us keeping secrets by now," Wally said, only a little bit bitterly, only a little bit frustrated. Barry smiled at him in commiseration.

Iris said softly, "It really was so good to see you, Wally. Any chance you get to come visit, please try. We'll always be happy to see you." Wally surprised himself by readily ( _excitedly_ ) saying that he would try. There was a weird mixture of feelings inside him that were making him feel weird about his excitement. On the one hand, he remembered Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry with a lot of fondness. He was pretty sure the highlight of every year was visiting them. His parents had never told him that Barry and Iris had disappeared the year before he'd gotten his own powers. There was a little part of him that felt like they'd abandoned him, left him alone with his parents to be put in those camps. He tried to push that part away. Blaming people wasn't going to help anyone. There was another part of him, larger than it should be, that felt mainly guilty. Who was he to get these amazing people back in his life when most of his team had no one to go back to or couldn't go back to them without putting anyone in danger?

Lorraine loved her father despite their arguments and was probably never going to see him again. Kelvin had left elderly parents in a senior living home and had no way of knowing if they were dead or alive, or if they were even still in the senior living home without him to pay for it. Cameron never wanted to see his father again and was content to leave him to rot in jail. He had no one else. Garfield was all alone. Harold's parents had disappeared pretty soon before he'd been taken into the camps and there was always a rocky relationship with his cousins. Jinx never said much about her past, but they all knew that there was no one to return to with her. Dinah was an orphan, only friends that would never know what happened to her. The spy had no one. And here Wally was, falling back into familial roles with his Aunt and Uncle? How was that fair to any of his team members?

He knew that it was different and that it was just a coincidence that this even happened, but he couldn't help but feel bad. Why should he get this when they deserved it so much more than he did? Whatever. He could deal with that internal crisis later. This wasn't the kind of breakdown a person had in front of relative strangers.

Instead, he just accepted the piece of paper that had the information needed to contact Barry's group from now on, numbly putting it into one of his arm compartments. Cisco's voice brought him out of his spiraling thoughts, "Who designs your suits?"

"Group effort? We each get a lot of input and Maser does the electronic work. Jinx and Changeling do a lot of the actual construction because Jinx can move stuff with her mind and Changeling can turn into really small creatures. Kelvin's actually the one who really does the in-depth design." Wally answered. Honestly, most things that the Circus did were group efforts. None of them really had strong enough skills in any area to do it by themselves, but they got by pretty well with the group of them working together. Sometimes, that didn't work so well. The saying 'too many cooks in the kitchen?' Definitely applied to things other than the kitchen.

Cisco nodded, an expression on his face that already told Wally that he was scheming something. Feeling something in his heart soften once again at the image this group portrayed – a group of humans and metas working together to make the world a better place for all of them, humans and metas as close as family, love more powerful than anything else – and the hope it gave him, Wally sent them a little salute and said, "Talk to you later."

And then, he  _ran_.

There was, for a moment, a strong urge to just run somewhere to be by himself. To run and run and run and run until there was nothing but nature around him, the sky an open, endless world that, someday, he'd be able to run to. Wally wanted the world pounding away under his feet, cities falling behind him as he  _ran_ , sound and color blurring into blissful obscurity around him. He wanted the Speed Force to thrum through his veins, telling him that he was  _chosen_ , that the Speed Force would always want him, that he had a home to go to, that the Speed Force would never betray him, never leave him.

But, he had a team to return to, an alliance to work on, a correspondence to start with Barry's group, a traitor to ferret out, an intruder to deal with, a mysterious ability to use powers in a dead zone to investigate, an organization to take down. He didn't have time to take to himself. He'd already spent significantly too much time at Barry's headquarters. He'd need to return to the city, but he'd wait to do that until nightfall. He'd spend the rest of the evening with the team.

Sighing, Wally altered his course a little bit, aiming towards Louisiana. He was still bitter that they were stationed in Louisiana. It was  _so far_  from his city. And yes, he understood that, as a speedster, it really wasn't that far for him, but still. It was the principle of the thing.

Skidding to a stop, Wally slid into the base, tripping a little bit on a carpet that had  _not_  been there earlier in the day. Thankfully, no one had been in the main room when he'd done that. However, his little squeak of surprise drew the others into the room. Cameron peered around a wall, eyes narrowed slightly. He rolled his eyes when he saw who it was, stepping out fully, "Smooth, Superklutz."

"That carpet was  _not_  there earlier," Wally hissed back.

"Going to tell us where you were?" Artemis asked, leaning back against another wall, scowl painted over her features, but an almost teasing glint in her eyes. Wally was glad that their talk really did seem to have smoothed over most of the problems in their relationship.

He tilted his head to the side for a second, thinking about how to answer that as the rest of the members of the team filtered in, "Hm… technically not? I was with another underground meta group. I can't give you any more information than that. Oh, they do have people in the Light and are willing to share information with us about that and anything else we may need. I've got the information to contact them."

"Another alliance?" Jinx sighed, leaning her head heavily back against the wall behind her. Zatanna shot her a small, hesitant smile.

"No!" Wally exclaimed, " _Not_ another alliance. At least, not yet. Right now, this is just information transfer. Basically, they're expecting the Circus and the mysterious other unnamed group that the Circus has allied itself with to do all the heavy lifting while they give us the tools to do it. After the whole Light fiasco is over, we might consider it."

Lorraine frowned, "We've never made an alliance before this and this is meant to only be a temporary alliance."

"That's true. I'll give you more details about why I want to consider going for an alliance when we're alone, okay?" Wally said, wincing a little bit when Superboy's lips dropped into a scowl. He really didn't  _mean_  to keep information from them, but… he did what he had to.

Red Arrow asked sarcastically, "Do we get a name?" It was obvious that he didn't like the lack of information either. Wally wanted to throw his hands in the air in frustration.

Then he thought about the question. He blinked a little bit, "You know, I never actually asked for the name and they never offered it. Huh. I think I'll ask that next time I talk to them."

The expression on Red Arrow's face was pained, "If you didn't seem so honestly curious about their name, I would have thought that you were making that up to get me off your back. But no. You really didn't ask the name of the group you just spent the whole afternoon with." The pained expression increased.

Wally rolled his eyes, "It's not like it really matters all that much."

Cameron rolled his own eyes and muttered to Red Arrow and Robin, "See what I have to deal with?"

"You say that a lot, Icicle. Looking for a replacement for second in command?" Lorraine asked sweetly, grinning at him. Icicle rolled his eyes and pushed at her. For a brief second, her arms lit up in flames and she mimed pushing him back. Cameron narrowed his eyes and let icy wafts of air spiral off his own hands. After a second of staring at each other with narrowed eyes, they both broke the stare-off, breaking into identical grins.

"If you're both done being five-year-old children, can we move on?" Dinah asked pointedly. The two just turned their unrepentant grins onto her. She rolled her eyes.

Garfield put a hand in the air tentatively, "So, what  _exactly_  are we moving on to?"

"I'd like to know that too," Wally stated.

"That's because you haven't been here hardly at all since this alliance started," Rocket accused before she paled a little bit, putting a hand up over her mouth, "Oh, uh. Sorry. Didn't mean to say that."

"Nah, you're good," Wally answered, "You're not wrong either. Sorry I've been so busy. I'm going to try to keep my outings to the nighttime, but people aren't always awake, then, so we'll see how I do." He shrugged again.

Robin turned to tease his own leader, "How come you're never that busy?"

Dinah interrupted before Aqualad could answer, "It's 'why', not 'how come.'" Robin blinked at her and Dinah blushed, "Sorry, habit."

"No problem," Robin said brightly, his own cheeks tinged a little pink.

Aqualad chuckled slightly, "I was rather hoping that we could go over information that we already have on the Light."

"Boring!" Robin announced, Zatanna nodding emphatically with him.

It was at that exact moment that an alarm started ringing. Robin cringed, "Not that boring. I take it back. I'm totally fine with talking about our information with the Light."

Harold gave him a very serious glance, "You have already jinxed us – no pun on Jinx's name intended – and you can't take it back now." Robin looked crushed.

Garfield raised his hand again, "Hey, where are we supposed to go when the alarm starts ringing like this?"

"The meeting room," Aqualad answered, already starting to lead them down to the room where Wally had had the disastrous meeting with the Justice League. He could already feel smothered anger resurfacing. Aqualad continued, "In normal situations, the League would enter the main room and tell us what the mission is, but the Team and the Justice League have agreed that, for the first week, there would be no League members here other than Red Tornado and only Batman assigns missions. Therefore, we are doing it over a screen rather than in person. After this week, if the alarm sounds, meet in the main room."

"Got it," Garfield responded, flashing a thumbs up.

They made it to the meeting room soon after that (Wally had resisted running there because he really wasn't in any sort of hurry to run into the Justice League after his last meeting with them). Batman was already there scowling at them by the time they all made it in there. Wally felt a reflexive scowl forming.

Batman started off immediately, "There is a situation that requires your attention. There is a metahuman resisting arrest. They were given an inhibitor collar, but it was ineffective, the same way that the metahuman at the Circus's… rehabilitation center was impervious to ability dampeners."

"Who's trying to arrest them and what's their crime?" Wally interrupted.

Batman sent him a dark look, but it wasn't really all that much darker than the look he was sending to the room as a whole, so Wally figured that he was good. Maybe. He probably wouldn't be killed in the middle of the night… hopefully.

Batman answered after a moment's pause, "As of the moment, there are only regular police officers on the scene. They sent out a distress signal and we received it first, assuring them that we will handle the situation."

Garfield's voice was small, his thin little green shoulders coming up around his ears, "So there won't be any Collection Agents there?"

For a long moment, Batman paused, sending Garfield a brief glance before turning his stare back onto Wally. Then, he spoke, "No. There won't be any Collection Agents there. The problem has fallen to us and it is within our purview to decide what to do with the metahuman that we apprehend."

"And if that something is letting the metahuman disappear with another metahuman group, probably never to be seen again," Wally tested carefully, eyes sharp under his goggles.

"As long as the League receives information about what allows the metahuman to be impervious to inhibitor collars, I don't see why that would be a problem," Batman responded evenly before growling, "None of that is going to matter if you don't go apprehend the metahuman. I have sent the coordinates to Robin." With that, he abruptly signed off, letting the screen go dark.

Wally blew out a breath of air, "I really hate that he wastes so much time trying to do long, dramatic pauses, but then complains that we aren't moving fast enough. Hypocrite." He shot a look at Robin, "Oh, uh, no offense?" Artemis and Red Arrow snorted off to the side before glaring darkly at each other. Wally gave them a wide berth as the group rushes towards the bioship (because apparently one meta requires a very large amount of people? If Wally was running this, he'd have two people on this,  _max_. Does the Team really have nothing better to do with their time? Do they not have actual lives?).

Robin cackles in that weird, disturbing,  _terrifying_  way and throws back, "No problem, Supersonic!"

They crowd onto the bioship and Wally watches with aw as the space shifts and ripples and settles into something sleeker, something large enough to fit all of them, chairs growing out of the floor. He ran a careful hand over one of the seats. This was his first time in the bioship and it was amazing.

Aqualad broke the moment, "Reports say that the metahuman is using some sort of electricity-based powers."

Wally chimed in, "We can send in Maser as damage control. His powers aren't lightning exactly, but they're energy based and have a lot in common with electricity. He can try to divert a lot of it."

Aqualad nodded to him, continuing the briefing, "He is surrounded by a police brigade, so any intervention from the Circus's side will have to be from the bioship. I will leave Miss Martian with the bioship to keep you suspended. Will Maser be able to do his part from the bioship?"

Harold nodded firmly, "I can do it."

"Alright," Aqualad said, voice calm and smooth and even, "I intend to send Rocket and Zatanna down. Zatanna will try to knock the perpetrator out and Rocket will keep the metahuman busy in the meantime." Both girls nodded seriously to him.

Aqualad turned to Wally. Shrugging, Wally faced this big, mixed up team, "You heard him. Let's catch this guy."


	17. Chapter 17

KKKKKK

Kaldur knew that he should have left most of the team behind. They were likely only to get in each other's way at the moment. However, something nudged at his senses, some sort of instinct telling him that there was more going on here than he could possibly guess. He supposed that this was what Dick and Roy called a gut instinct.

They were hovering over the edge of the police brigade. Rocket had floated herself and Zatanna down to the ground, letting the bubble-like shield fade away into nothingness when their feet made contact with the earth. The enemy, a tall, African American man with a shaved, bald head, watched the two girls apprehensively. They fanned out, moving to be on either side of him. The man gave no reaction.

Supersonic had moved to lean against the window, one hand pressed against it and eyes narrowed, "Something's not right. He should be defensive. I find myself surrounded by police and mini heroes and I'm going to do anything I can to make myself scarce."

"Set up?" Superboy asked, standing half out of his chair, "Or a trap?"

"Doesn't feel like either. There's something seriously wrong here," Supersonic's brow was furrowed at that point.

Icicle glanced at him from the side, "What is it? Come on, use your words."

Shooting a small glare at his second in command, Supersonic shook his head, "I don't know! I just… does something feel familiar to you? Something about this seems familiar to me."

The members of the Team glanced to each other, confused. What would this remind Supersonic of? The Circus members moved closer to the window. The only one who stayed behind was Maser. His eyes were closed, and one hand was partially outstretched, electricity crackling off of his skin, surrounding him in a bright ring of static.

Icicle glanced back to the rest of the team before putting a hand on his leader's shoulder, "Supersonic, there's nothing familiar about-,"

He was cut off by Ballistic rumbling, "Wait!" He gently pushed his way to the front of the window section, narrowing his own eyes at the street below. He stumbled back suddenly, "That's… I know him!"

"You  _know_  him?" Black Canary asked incredulously, "From before you became a meta?"

"No," Ballistic said, the mounting horror in his voice matching the rising horror in the expressions the metahumans wore, "I recognize him from our camp!"

"An escapee?" Robin asked, voice sharp. Kaldur was confused. How was it that they wouldn't have heard of an escape? Although the Collection Agency tended to avoid alarming the public with knowledge of escapes, Batman always got a ping when an escape was reported within the system. Typically, the only information that the Collection Agency transmitted was that there  _had been_ an escape, never information on who or what escaped. No details were ever reported. But, the escape itself was  _always_  reported.

"The camps wouldn't let one go unless they were cured and this one is basically the opposite of cured since he's not affected by inhibitor collars, so it's got to be an escapee" Artemis responded curtly, her hero voice in full effect.

Ballistic shook his head, "If he escaped, he can't be the only one. Trust me when I say that you don't get out of that camp with only one person, no matter if you are unaffected by the inhibitor collars. And he'd only been in the camp for about a year when I got out. We had  _years_  of time spent in the camp to help our escape." The Team members eyed Black Canary and Ballistic, certain that they were the ones who had been in the camps for such extended periods of time. No one but Kaldur noticed the way Supersonic's jaw clenched and Icicle formed a tight fist at the words. He felt some part of his heart stir with an unidentifiable emotion. Ballistic considered a single year spent in the camps to be worthless in an escape. How long had these two teenagers been in the camp to be considered well-versed enough to lead an escape? Kaldur shook the thought from his mind. This wasn't the time.

Kaldur spoke up, "Should we be concerned about other metahumans in the vicinity?"

Sighing, Supersonic shrugged, "I mean… I don't know, honestly. There's a good chance that they split once they got out. A lot of escapees do that. There's always the chance that he really did get out without any other metahumans helping him. He's impervious to inhibitor collars. So far, the only people we know who can do that are the Light. There's a chance he had the Light backing his escape."

Below them, the man had begun weakly striking out at the heroes, shooting lightning bolts that would fizzle partway. He was glowing with a bright shock of electricity that tore apart Rocket's shields and had been effortlessly dodging Zatanna's spells.

Maser suddenly spoke up from behind them, voice crackling with the static surrounding him, "He's not even trying. The bolts he's shooting are all bark, no bite. He's purposefully making them showy but not too harmful. Maybe a little jolt, but that'd be it."

"He wants us to catch him," Red Arrow summarized, voice hard.

"Maybe," Firehawk mused, standing slightly back from the group, "Or maybe he wants to be anywhere but here and someone's forcing him."

"Who, though? Why?" M'gann sounded frustrated and tired, something unusual for the typically bubbly girl.

Kaldur watched as Zatanna stopped trying simple spells and shot out a wave of power that rocked the earth beneath the metahuman's feet. The man stumbled, a genuinely surprised expression on his face. Behind them, Maser made a grabbing motion with his hand and the ring of static electricity that had been preventing Rocket from making a move disappeared, shattering into bright bursts of light around the man. Both Maser and the enemy winced, gasping. Rocket used the moment to engulf the man in one of her bubbles. She lifted it into the air and shook it around. The man didn't get a chance to gain his bearings before Zatanna was whispering a spell that would put him to sleep. The man crumbled into a little ball at the bottom of the force field. Carefully, both girls nodded to the police before starting their trek back into the air to go back to the bioship.

Supersonic pushed himself back off the window, mouth tight with stress, "I guess we're about to find out."

Kaldur put a hand on Supersonic's shoulder, feeling the muscles flinch and twitch under his hand before Supersonic carefully stilled. Kaldur pulled his hand away as soon as he was sure that Supersonic was listening, "I am sure that you wish to bring this man back to your rehabilitation center, but I ask that you allow our teams to come together and interrogate this man as one unit before you take him away."

"I can allow that," Supersonic answered easily, much easier than Kaldur had been expecting. Twisting slightly to look back at him, Supersonic easily read Kaldur's confusion, "You're good enough to let us take the metas. This is the least we could do, honestly."

Nodding to his co-leader, Kaldur let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, "Thank you."

"No problem," Supersonic answered absentmindedly, already moving back towards where the prisoner was being settled down in the back, still in Rocket's shield. Maser turned his chair to face the prisoner, hand still outstretched and electricity still forming a glowing aura around him.

Changeling must have noticed the looks Maser was getting because he explained, "Maser's just making sure that the electricity won't really come back if the guy wakes up for some reason during the ride home.

Supersonic still had a worried expression on his face as Miss Martian made to leave the area. He bit his lip and asked suddenly, "Should we do a sweep of the area to make sure that there aren't any other metas? I don't think we'll find any, but I'll feel better if we run a check." Kaldur nodded to him. It was better to be safe than sorry. Shoulders slumping slightly in relief, Supersonic nodded his head to Icicle, Robin, and Superman, "You three good to do a sweep from the ground? Then we can send Red Arrow, Artemis, and Jinx to the rooftops? Miss Martian will keep the bioship steady. Maser and Rocket will hold down the prisoner. Zatanna, can you fly? Okay, good. Zatanna, Firehawk, and Changeling will check the sky. Good? Alright, just check out for about a mile or two."

The groups assigned to leave the bioship nodded to him. Miss Martian discretely moved the bioship to an area that wasn't swarming with police presence. Hopefully, the police wouldn't notice the extra members of the Team. There shouldn't be a reason for the police to venture out this far before securing the scene and working to clear the damage in the area, but Kaldur couldn't be sure.

Ballistic was crouching next to Rocket's sphere, staring intently at the figure inside. Supersonic leaned down next to Ballistic, settling into his own squat. Kaldur moved closer to hear them speak. Supersonic tilted his head to the side, "I know I recognize him, but the memories of him are pretty fuzzy. Was he… in my group or yours?"

Heaving a huge sigh, Ballistic winced, "Yours."

Supersonic's jaw clenched again, but he didn't comment on that further, "How did you know him? Same barracks?"

Ballistic nodded, "Yeah. His daughter was in my group, too."

Supersonic shook his head, lips twisting, "They normally try to put family in different camps. Weird that they were in the same place. Wouldn't want us getting all self-sacrificing for our family." He finished bitterly.

Glancing at his leader, Ballistic sighed, "Probably didn't know they were related. This guy split from his wife and left the kid with the mother for protection. Didn't work as well as he wanted it to."

All of a sudden, Rocket's voice broke over the conversation, "I _knew_  I recognized him!"

" _You_  recognize him?" Ballistic asked, shocked.

"You  _don't_?" Rocket challenged. When everyone continued to stare at her uncomprehendingly, she rolled her eyes and explained, "He's gone to the Olympics twice. Just a couple of years ago, he got a gold medal in the decathlon. He was raised in a real bad part of Metropolis, so a ton of people were talking about how impressive it was that he was able to get out of the slums and make a real name for himself. Never imagined he was going to end up being a metahuman. I used to idolize him before he completely disappeared out of the spotlight about two years ago."

"That'd be about when he was taken to the camps," Ballistic said before sighing, "At least we know that the Collection Agency doesn't publicize their captures. If people weren't even told that an Olympic gold medalist was brought to the camps, then there's no way our information was spread around."

Supersonic snorted bitterly, "Makes you wonder how many disappearances can be linked to the Collection Agency. Like, imagine your friend just disappearing and you put in a report, but nothing happens. And, plot twist, they're in a camp somewhere and you'll just never know."

Kaldur winced internally. There was a good chance that the situation Supersonic had described happened far too often to be comfortable. He wondered idly if any members of the Justice League had experienced it: friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues disappearing into the ether, no trace of them. They could either be gone into the various camps around the United States or they could have run to avoid the camps, disappearing into the metahuman underground. Or they could have been taken by the metahuman criminal sphere, forced into misusing their powers or being experimented on somewhere.

How could they tell? How could anyone reliably know whether the people who disappeared actually disappeared or if they'd been taken into custody of the Collection Agency? What even was the process to be taken into a camp? Was there a trial? Was their family sat down and the experience explained? Or were they just taken? On further thought, what did Supersonic mean by "my group or yours?" What were the different groups? How were these barracks arranged? Kaldur was starting to realize how little he actually knew about the camps, how little the Collection Agency publicized about the camps.

A loud clatter broke Kaldur out of his thoughts, the rest of the team returning to the bioship, clamoring into the space. Supersonic moved fluidly back to standing pose, eyes skipping quickly over his team, probably checking for injuries. Icicle came over and the two fist bumped idly.

Robin sidled up next to Kaldur, "The prisoner make any moves?"

"No," Kaldur reported, "But Rocket recognized him as an Olympic gold medalist."

Startled, Robin blinked at the prisoner, trying to discern his face through the slightly wavy color of Rocket's shield. He tilted his head to the side, "Huh. Really shows you that becoming a metahuman could happen to anyone. Anyways, there weren't any suspicious figures or anything like that around the area. There was an area that I'm pretty sure held at least three squatters pretty recently. There's a chance that him and two others could have been there hiding. Maybe they were approached by someone who wanted this guy to do something and the other two refused or the other two are being used against him. Or maybe I'm completely off my mark." Dick scrubbed a frustrated, weary hand over his face.

Roy came over and bumped Dick's shoulder, voice lowering, "Still can't find any information about potential donors?"

Kaldur turned to them, startled. He'd forgotten that Robin was still investigating that. Robin sighed, scrubbing both hands over his face that time, " _No_. I don't have nearly enough information to narrow down my list. Whoever set up their benefactor system is seriously skilled."

"Might have been one of the benefactors. Not of a lot of people want to get caught helping out metas," Roy mused, shrugging.

"I guess we'll never know," Dick grumbled, mainly to himself. Roy snorted.

Kaldur thought to himself that, this time, the idea that the Circus might have been stealing the resources was never mentioned.

Rocket's exclamation drew them back to the prisoner's situation, the bioship already on the way back to headquarters, "Hey! Don't touch that!"

Changeling shrunk back a little bit, eyes huge and green in his face, "Er… sorry? It just… looks squishy. I wanted to see what it felt like." He gave her a pout that almost seemed to be formed unconsciously.

Rocket's stern expression faltered and collapsed under the metahuman's pout, twitching into a little, reluctant smile, "Oh, alright. But  _gently_. And only one poke!"

The group watched in amusement as Changeling's tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth. He bent down and carefully moved his pointer finger closer and closer to the sphere before gently poking it. He blinked, "It is kind of soft! Sort of!"

Kaldur watched as the majority of the people in the bioship smiled, finding themselves drawn in by the boy's enthusiasm. Supersonic was the only one not smiling, instead seeming to be lost in his own thoughts, staring intently at the unconscious body within the force field as if it could give him all of the answers. It was obvious that the questions that were piling up around them were bothering the speedster. To be honest, it was bothering Kaldur as well. There was something about this entire situation that did not feel right. It almost felt like someone was planning all of it, drawing them further and further into a trap that they had no chance of seeing. But how could that be possible? Who would have that much patience, that much knowledge? Sure, there was the possibility of the mole, but that still didn't answer how the Circus was drawn so tightly into this woven net of mysteries. Was the new group that Supersonic had met tied just as deeply into this?

Both metahuman groups had spies in the Light. The Circus and the Team both had a Light spy among themselves. There were too many spies, too many unknowns, too many chances to mess up. The Light was making moves that were unpredictable and seemingly unexplainable. Were their various attacks and plans unconnected and simply a means to throw the Team off their trail? Or were the attacks all part of something larger that the Team wouldn't see until it was too late?

Kaldur shook away the thoughts. This was why they'd teamed up with the Circus in the first place. No matter what odds were stacked against them, the Light couldn't predict anything. And the power of a team that genuinely respected and trusted each other was more than the Light could possibly understand. That was the downfall of every villain in the end. They don't understand the meaning of true bonds. And that is why they fail.

He only looked up when the bioship started descending. Across from him, Supersonic looked up at the same time, straightening his shoulders and setting his expression. Now that Kaldur thought about it, he wasn't sure he'd ever seen Supersonic smile. Maybe he had done something that had vaguely resembled a smirk, but that had been it. Not for the first time, Kaldur wondered what it was that Supersonic had gone through in his life. What kind of childhood had he experienced? What were the camps like for him? Where was his family? Did he have a family?

As the ship descended into the new base, Kaldur wondered if he'd ever know the answers to these questions.

WWWWWW

Wally made sure to keep an eye on his people as they all walked to some sort of interrogation chamber or whatever. Cameron walked at the front of the group and asked, "So, how are we going to keep him from going psycho electrical when we wake him up?"

"We have rooms designed for a great number of things. There is a rubber room to deal with people with electricity-based abilities. We can put him in there," Aqualad answered. Wally figured he should probably take some time to explore this new base and get to know what's actually around. It felt like Aqualad was taking over completely and while Wally didn't mind the decrease in workload, it wasn't fair on Aqualad and it didn't look good for the alliance.

The moved towards the room, finally getting the man into the room and leaving him there. Both Rocket and Harold let out sighs of relief as they were finally able to let go of their powers, sweat dotting their brow lines and trembles shaking their arms. Harold collapsed hard into a chair, but Changeling immediately tried to pull him back up, "C'mon, Maser! You should probably shower and then do some stretches and then eat some stuff to make sure that your powers didn't wear you out too bad." Garfield and Harold were good friends, most often seen together. Wally figured it was because they were the closest in age other than maybe Jinx, but maybe they just really clicked. Their personalities didn't seem like they'd normally click, but it worked.

Harold groaned, "Or I could just sit here and be comfortable."

"You'll be sore tomorrow," Dinah warned.

"Yes, mother," Harold sighed, finally allowing Garfield to bring him to his feet, "I know. I just wish human bodies didn't work this way." Some of the Team members tensed a little bit, expressions going sort of flat. For a moment, Wally couldn't tell what set them off. Then he realized that Harold had said 'human' bodies. Was that really what they were getting worked up about? Honestly. Metahumans and humans typically shared the same bodies. They were all born the same. The only thing was that one tiny little gene was activated and bam! Powers. Sure, that occasionally made them look  _not-human_  (Kelvin was a perfect example), but that didn't mean that they hadn't once or sometimes still had human bodies.

Garfield transformed in a large gorilla, sweeping Harold up in his arm and depositing the other teen on his back, loping off towards, presumably, the showers. Cameron stretched his arms up behind his back, "I may not be able to cook, but I am capable of throwing together basic sandwiches. Anyone who wants food can come up with me. You good with that fearless leader?"

"I'd say only if you brought some food down to me, but I know you and I know that you're going to force food on to me no matter what happens, so yeah. I'm good with it. I'll brief you on what happened when we're done." Wally responded, sending his friend a nod.

Cameron nodded back, heading up the stairs. The rest of Wally's team followed him out, each mumbling about what they wanted in their sandwich and if any of them really wanted any more food. Wally shook his head, "I swear that all they think about is eating."

The whole Team was staring at him when he looked back towards them. Artemis asked incredulously, "No one else from your team is going to watch the interrogation?"

"You're video taping it, right?" Wally asked, nodding his head towards the camera in the corner of the room. Robin nodded to him and Wally spread his hands, "There we go. I can just tell them what happened and if they really want to see it, they can go back and watch it. They're tired from the day right now, so they probably wouldn't be much help either."

"And you're not? You were up so late last night!" Red Arrow exclaimed, a hint of something like accusation in his voice.

Wally shrugged, "I'm the king of cat naps. Also, pretty sure our guy is waking up, so… How do you guys usually play interrogations?"

Aqualad tilted his head to the side, "How does the Circus normally perform  _theirs_?"

Shrugging again, Wally said, "I mean, it really depends on the person. Some are just scared, so they get blankets and food and a nice place to sleep before we even try to ask them questions and then we literally just ask. Some are angry with the entirety of the metahuman underground so we try to ask them what they need, why they're upset, what we can do to fix it and then we ask them questions. So I guess we just make them as comfortable as possible, give them what they need, and then try to get a better understanding of what's going on with them. At least, once a Circus member gets there. They're typically detained properly until then."

Superboy frowned, "That doesn't sound like an interrogation."

"In the end, we try to help all metahumans. If we can. We don't want them to hate us or hate other meta groups. We want them to see that we can help them, and they don't have to go out and do bad things any more. The Circus is meant to be safety for metahumans and traditional interrogations – no matter how gentle or moral or whatever – kind of go against that image," Wally explained. It was something he tried to get to every metahuman who passed through the Circus, whether they stayed in the city or not. The Circus was out there to help metahumans and to save them. It wasn't there to hurt them. It wasn't there to trick them. They weren't going to ask for blood or other things to study the metas. It was just a safe haven for them to escape to. That was it.

Superboy nodded to him seriously. Wally had the feeling that he'd like Superboy if he got the chance to know the clone better. Maybe. Sometimes it was hard to tell. But he felt like maybe the half-Kryptonian wouldn't have so many opinions on the metahuman stuff or that he just wouldn't care. That was the main vibe he was getting off Superboy: that he just didn't care about all the stupid confusion and angst between humans and metahumans.

"So," Wally prompted, "How do you normally do it?"

"We just do a traditional interrogation, but, uh. We agreed that you should probably lead the interrogation since, well, he's a metahuman and he's technically going to be your, um, prisoner? Once this is all over," Robin answered, seemingly unsure of the terms he was using.

"Oh," Wally said, nodding. Made sense. He scratched behind his neck, "I'm good with that. So, this isn't a one-way mirror is it? Like, is this a cell or an interrogation room?"

"It's a cell. I can see  _and_  hear you," a new voice answered. The entire group glanced up, startled, as the prisoner spoke. He was staring at them with hard brown eyes, fists clenched at his sides, but still sitting down, scooched up against the wall.

Wally clapped his hands together, rubbing them slightly, "Awesome! So, do you know who we are or do you need an introduction, Mr. Jefferson Pierce?" He'd gotten the man's name from Rocket, who'd recognized him as an Olympic athlete. Who even knew the names of Olympic athletes by heart? Then again, maybe Wally would have been more interested in the Olympics if he'd had a chance to watch them as he was growing up. His parents had discouraged it at home because sports would only distract him from his education and the camp definitely hadn't let them watch any television.

The man, Pierce, didn't seem too fazed that Wally knew who he was, but there was a chance that he was just really good at putting up a front, "I  _thought_  I knew who all of you were, but the leader of the Circus wouldn't be chumming with the Justice League's lackies, so I guess I don't know who you are." He sent his piercing (get it? Get it? Wally hated himself sometimes) glare straight onto Wally.

Rolling his eyes behind his goggles, Wally said, "Yeah, yeah. I get it. This is a betrayal to my kind. How could I? Where is my loyalty? I should have joined with the Light instead like you and your little buddies." Pierce's eyes flickered slightly at the last sentence, something in them momentarily taken aback, momentarily hurt. Wally had a sudden moment of understanding, "Sorry, my bad. You think I should let my friends get captured by the Light like you did and  _then_  I should join them and do what they say. Right."

"I didn't  _let_  them get captured!" Pierce protested.

Wally allowed his expression to soften, "I know. Trust me, I know. I bet you guys broke out of the camp pretty recently and weren't really at full power. There was nothing you could do."

Pierce's eyes widened further, "How do you know all of this? How did you know that I was in a camp, that I had people with me?"

Shrugging, Wally answered, "Me and the Circus? We were in the same camp you were in. I think Ballistic said he was in the same barracks as you. Big tall guy with red skin and horns in a couple of spots?" He added quickly when Pierce gave him a blank look. He forgot that since Pierce was in the camps he wasn't going to know about the "superhero" names of the Circus members. Pierce had definitely heard about the Circus, though, based on his comment to Wally in the beginning.

Understanding dawned on Pierce's face, "Wait, you're telling me that the Circus members escaped from the camp I was in and yet you  _still_  work with the lesser version of the Justice League?"

Wally could see several of the members puffing up, offended at being called lesser. He spoke before any of them could, "We have a mutual enemy. One that you  _should_  share based on the fact that they currently have your friends."

Pierce's facial expression spasmed momentarily, guilt lancing across his countenance, "It's  _because_ they have my friends that they aren't my enemies."

"Then why let us capture you? And don't try to say that you were trying because that was the worst attempt at trying I've ever seen if you were," Wally threw back, starting to really dig for answers.

"The Light wants me to deliver a message," Pierce answered.

Narrowing his eyes, Wally asked, "They're willing to burn a meta who's impervious to inhibitor collars on a message?"

Pierce swallowed, licking his lips before answering, "It's  _because_  inhibitor collars can't be used that I was chosen to deliver the message. They want you to know that you cannot win. They hold all the cards. Enough cards that you wouldn't stand a chance no matter what you did. The Light is stronger than you could ever imagine. They're already closing in on their main goal. Nothing you have done has detrimentally affected their plans. The Team's mole is very informative. The Light was especially pleased to learn about the Circus's spy and the spies of the metahuman underground group." Wally paled dramatically. They knew about his spy. They knew about _Barry's_ spies. They  _knew_. But there was no way that they would be able to figure out who Wally's spy was. There was no way.

Pierce had paused at the reactions everyone gave to that bit of news before continuing hesitantly, "The Light knows about Holo City. They know about Gorilla City and have already cemented control there. The Light knows who each and every one of you are. The Light has more allies than you could ever imagine, including ones in places you would never guess. No matter what alliances you form, what information you get, you cannot defeat the Light."

Wally felt faint. The Light knew about Holo City, knew about the city that Wally had built for the people he'd rescued. He'd known that when they'd sent in Tommy Terror, but it was different having it confirmed, different having that knowledge used as a threat. They knew about  _Gorilla City_. According to King Solivar, the only ones who had ever found the compound was Wally and the rest of the Circus. Wally had known that one of the members of Gorilla City had to have told the Light where Holo City was. He knew that there was Grodd and his group of followers and that they occasionally caused some issues. He knew that they weren't pleased with the way that Solivar was running things, knew that they had attempted take overs in the past. Wally just hadn't known that Grodd would sell out Holo City to get the Light's backing in a hostile takeover of Gorilla City. Because what else could have happened? There was no way that the Light could have just stumbled upon Gorilla City and taken it over. The gorillas (or whatever term they used for themselves) there were too strong, too  _intelligent_.

Behind him, the Team were murmuring to themselves, confused about the terms being used. They didn't recognize the names of the two cities. That was a small consolation since there was no way to hide the freak out Wally was having over those names mentioned. The Team was going to interrogate  _him_  about the names as soon as this was over.

Trying to swallow down the cold fear and aching need to  _run_  away from all of this, Wally turned to Pierce, "Okay. Message received. What did the Light do to make you impervious to inhibitor collars?"

The grin Pierce shot him was full of sharp ice, cold and shattered and sharp and maybe a little bit crazy, "You think the  _Light_  did this to me? To any other unlucky souls who have this? No, no. It wasn't the Light. And don't think I'm telling you who it is. The Light will know. And they'll kill my friend and my daughter."

Wally briefly shut his eyes, heart going out to the man in front of him. He'd had to watch his daughter suffer in the camp and now that he finally got his daughter out of there, a different group took her. How was this fair? Taking a deep breath, Wally amended his statement, "I won't ask, then. But I still want to know what they did to you."

"How should I know?" Pierce demanded, "Do I look like a scientist to you? I have no clue what they did to me. I know that they cut me open and they stuck something inside, but I don't know what it is. You can go ahead and cut me open and pull it out if you want," He added sarcastically, eyes practically daring them to try. He was trying to make a point to Wally: the Team was an off-shoot of the Justice League. Pierce was trying to say that the Justice League wouldn't hesitate to pull the device out of him, to subject him to tests and examinations. It wouldn't be experimentation, but it would be just shy of it. Pierce wanted Wally to know what the Justice League would do, wanted to see if Wally had become like them.

Voice soft, Wally said, "We'll figure this out." And then he walked away.

After a pause, the Team followed him. Wally started making his way towards the kitchen. This conversation was going to need everyone.


	18. Chapter 18

WWWWWW

Cameron sent Wally a reassuring smile that faltered as Wally flicked his fingers slightly, a couple of symbols meaning trouble – they know – be wary. Wally turned to face the Team members who had come up behind him, inwardly wincing when he saw that Robin was frowning thoughtfully at Wally's hand.

Raising a cautious, calculating eyebrow, Robin commented quasi-idly, "I didn't know you knew sign-language."

"We don't," Cameron answered for Wally, slanting his eyes over to his leader for a second before turning back to Robin, "We developed our own little language of symbols during our time in the camps."

Kelvin nodded in agreeance, "It's really annoying. None of the rest of us know their little code and we have no clue what they're saying about us when they look at each other and start flashing little signs."

It was, surprisingly, Superboy who cut straight to the chase, "What are Holo City and Gorilla City?"

If, by any miracle, the Team hadn't noticed Wally's reaction to the city names, there was no chance that they didn't see the full-body flinch several of the metahumans gave at hearing a Team member say those names. Lorraine hissed, "Where did you hear those names?"

"Pierce," Wally answered shortly, "He got captured to send a message from the Light. Within that message, he made sure that we know that the Light knows about Holo and Gorilla City."

Cameron flashed Wally a few more signs, tell them – are you okay – how bad – do they know. Wally sent back quickly, yes – no – not sure. Cameron nodded back to him, taking a deep breath and setting down his sandwich. Almost unnoticeably, a sheen of spiked ice spread over Cameron's hands. He was making sure that he was prepared for whatever was about to go down.

Superboy repeated his question, "What are Holo City and Gorilla City?"

Closing his eyes, Wally sighed and opened them again, "This really is something that I can't tell you. Neither of them are just my secrets to keep."

"That doesn't matter!" Artemis argued heatedly, "The people in these cities are in danger!"

"There's no helping the people in Gorilla City and Holo City is as safe as it's going to get," Wally threw back. If Grodd really had gotten control of Gorilla City, there was nothing that the Team could do to stop that. Especially if Grodd had the Light's backing. Maybe if the Light was taken out and the Team could get the Circus and the Justice League to join in on that fight.  _Maybe_  they'd have a chance at that point, but it was still unlikely.

"Maybe that's what you think," Robin said cautiously, "But you're not exactly approaching this from a non-biased perspective, are you?" Wally sent him a sharp look and Robin's nose twitched slightly, "We're not trying to attack you or anything like that! Jeez! We just want to help these people!"

"None of them are human," Cameron pointed out, not exactly accusing the heroes, just stating a fact and testing their response. The rest of the Circus were staying silent. This was one of those moments where they were trusting the decisions to Wally as the leader. They would go with however he decided to take the conversation even without their input. It was moments like this that made Wally wish that they had someone who could form a telepathic bond between them the way Miss Martian could for the Team. That would be so, so convenient.

Surprising the group again, it was Artemis who answered that time, "That doesn't mean anything. We still want to help them!" Wally opened his mouth to argue, but Artemis shot him a glare that shut him up, speaking over him, "I've… I've made some mistakes in how I've been treating you. I will rescue  _anyone_  who needs help, no matter what they are. That has always been true even if I made it hard to tell with how I acted earlier." It was the closest to an apology as she would go. Wally welcomed even that much.

Sighing, Wally blew out a breath, "Okay then. You know the rehabilitation centre? It's part of a city myself and the rest of the Circus built for the metahumans we rescue. It's a huge, sprawling metropolis that covers a lot of land and has everything a self-sustaining land would need. Obviously, we get some money to help the city stay afloat from outside sources, but the city is pretty good at staying completely insular and running itself without needing to get stuff from neighbouring areas. That's Holo City.

"Gorilla City is a little more complicated to explain. It's a city that's been hidden to humanity for a long,  _long_  time. It's inhabited by highly intelligent  _gorillas_. And, yes, I know that is unrealistic, but it's true. These gorillas – they call themselves something else like Super Primates or something, I don't know – can speak with humans and they have technology that is advanced far beyond what humans could make. They have one specific piece of tech that has kept this city so well hidden that the Circus is the only group of people to stumble across it. The King of Gorilla City listened to us tell him about the problems we were having. We were being persecuted by our own kind and had a growing group of people who we wanted to protect, but no way to do it. He said that Gorilla City was founded as a solution to similar problems and he gave us the tech to start our own city.

"There's a faction within Gorilla City that doesn't like the way King Solivar is ruling Gorilla City, though. It's led by a gorilla called Gorilla Grodd. Grodd's super intelligent even among the super intelligent gorillas and he wants to be in charge. My belief is that he leaked the existence and location of Holo City to the Light in order to get the Light to back him in a coup against King Solivar. Based on what Pierce said, I think the coup was successful and Grodd is now in charge of Gorilla City." Wally finished, slightly out of breath.

Artemis blinked at him, "That… was not the answer I was expecting." Wally shrugged unrepentantly. Artemis squinted at him, "I just… talking gorillas?"

"Trust me, it's much weirder in person," Cameron threw out, shuddering dramatically. He and Artemis shared a brief smile.

Wally added, "That's why it doesn't matter whether you knew about them or not. Holo City is as protected as it can get. They aren't going to take human or hero protectors and they'll be furious when they find out that we even told anyone. And if Grodd's taken control of Gorilla City, then there's no chance that you guys can do anything. Maybe if the Light's taken out, we might have a chance, but right now there's nothing we can do."

"We can still try," Miss Martian pleaded, eyes soft.

Wally shrugged, "I'm not telling you where Gorilla City is. If you still want to try, then you can go looking for it if you want. I'm going to focus on the problems at hand."

"I believe the first issue we should address is whether this… Grodd character knows the identity of your spy. There is little chance that the hypothetical mole within the Team knows the identity or your spy, so the only way that your spy would be compromised would be if they made a mistake or if Grodd could give information on them," Aqualad stated calmly.

Aqualad probably only cared because the spy was a potential source of information, but it made Wally feel good to think that Aqualad and the rest of the Team might care about Wally's spy as well. Shrugging, Wally answered unconcernedly, "The spy is good – they won't get caught. And there's no way that Grodd would be able to figure out who they are. I'm going to operate under the assumption that they're safe until the next time I get in contact with them."

"How can you be so blasé about this?" Zatanna asked, expression slightly aghast.

"Our spy really is good at what they do. They're not going to go down easily, and they won't go down without a fight. Of course we're worried about them, but this is their job in the organisation, you know? They've been doing this since we've been created. And, yeah, normally they're only undercover for a little bit before they get us into the group and we take them out from the inside, but just because it's not going to go down the same way this time doesn't mean anything different."

"I don't know how I feel about that," Rocket admitted.

Wally shrugged again, "You don't have to feel any sort of way about it. It's what's happening. It's what's going to happen. The spy's okay with it and we, as their family and team, are okay with it." Rocket bit her lip but didn't say anything else.

After a short pause, Garfield piped up, "So, are we going to talk about what else the lightning guy said?"

Wally's lips tightened, "The Light has got one of Pierce's friend's and his daughter and they're using them against him. Probably the same situation as Tommy Terror. Pierce said that a device was planted inside of him that made it possible for the inhibitor collars to not work. He won't say who did it, but he did say that it's  _not_  the Light."

Kelvin blinked, "Who could it be, then?"

"No clue," Wally admitted, "But Pierce also said that the Light has allies that we'd never expect, so I'm guessing the ally is probably the same person who implanted the device. Who would have the resources to do that kind of stuff?"

"The better question," Kelvin started, "Is who would have the  _research_  to do that kind of stuff? I mean, we've run into a lot of groups that do experimentation on metas, but… none of them want to make it better for metas. I guess the Light could have done the research and then sent the information to whoever prepped the device?"

"Could be Queen Bee's special metahuman forces? I haven't heard much about them being experimented on all that vigorously, though. Just like the usual experimentation of ways to make them stronger or whatever. Queen Bee's metas are a work force and an army, not lab rats. Guess that could have changed," Lorraine said uncertainly.

"Especially with Brain and Queen Bee working together. Wouldn't surprise me," Dinah shrugged.

"That doesn't feel right," Harold sighed, "I don't know why. Who else would have this much information stored about metas?"

There was a pause before Red Arrow suggested hesitantly, "… the Camps?"

The group blinked at him. Wally blinked again, "Uh, I mean… yeah? But that's not exactly the stuff they were researching. At least, not while I was there." Wally tried to resist the pull of memories, the rushing swirl of scalpels and drugs and restraints and blood and so much… He swallowed harshly, fighting against that dark path. He remembered them asking about how much it hurt, about how much of the Speed Force he felt rushing through his veins. They asked how he powers felt, how well they were working. They tested how quickly he was healing.

Cameron waved a quick sign in front of Wally's face, stay here – don't fall into memories. Wally tried to breathe through the rushing panic rising in him. Cameron watched him worriedly, but continued where Wally dropped off, "According to Supersonic and Changeling, the scientists at the camp were actually really focused on getting the powers to go away, not make them stronger. Their tests and experiments were angled entirely towards how the powers worked and how to stop them." Wally noted idly that Garfield was starting to shake even as Wally himself stood frozen.

The rest of the Team glanced between the two named Circus members, apparently noticing their distress. Robin asked very carefully, "Why only according to Supersonic and Changeling?"

Cameron made to answer, but Wally interrupted him, finally finding some part of his voice, "Because we have increased healing. We could get through more tests and experiments faster than other metas. The camps split us into two groups: those of us who were experimented on and those who were used as labour. The camps were self-sustaining, so the non-experimented on people worked on the fields and kept the electricity going and built new barracks and all that."

There was something approaching mild horror on Aqualad and Miss Martian's face, but the rest seemed unconcerned with the response, murmuring out their understanding.

"So," Red Arrow said, "Probably not the camps, then."

"I mean, we can't rule them out. There's a chance that someone was hacking their records and getting that information to help supplement their own research. It would cut down on research costs dramatically," Dinah mused.

Garfield brightened, "What about that one tribe in Africa? There's a chance that this isn't purely technological. It could have some magical elements and if anyone knows about the magical bits of metahumans, it's that tribe."

"Assuming magic existed, yes, they would be a good group to look at," Wally started, studiously ignoring the eye rolls he was receiving from the two magic users on the team, "But where would the Light get their research? Because you know that they wouldn't go along with the Light."

"I don't know anything about this group, but the Light could have gone to them and held them hostage, tortured them for their information. Threatened them, blackmailed them, etc.," Robin said. He trailed off slowly when he saw Garfield turn from a forest green to a chalky, minty green. Wally winced; the African village that Garfield had grown up in was close with the tribe that did magical research on metas. Hearing them talked about that way probably wasn't the best. Kelvin patted Garfield's shoulder quickly and Robin grimaced, "Sorry."

"No problem, dude," Garfield squeaked out. Robin grimaced again.

"Anyways," Lorraine said, "How would the Light even know to go to them? It's not like they publicize their opinions. They speak an incredibly rare language. I don't think they've even heard of lightbulbs at this point they're so isolated. The Light can't have known about their research."

"Unless it's the same situation that Gorilla City is in. We haven't seen the tribe in forever. There's a chance that a rebel group could have risen to power in the time we've been gone," Dinah reminded them.

Garfield frowned, "That's not like them at all, though. I doubt that would have happened."

"We'll keep them in mind. Anyone else?" Wally asked, doing his best to pull the conversation back on topic.

There was a pause before Harold suggested, "The Hackers? They've technically got access to practically every research group out there if they wanted it. And you know their morals go as far as the next pay check. If the Light found them, then the Light could have pulled together all of that research and created something from it or sent the info to someone who could create something from it."

"Hackers don't work with others and they don't employ any scientists. How would they know what to get?" Jinx pointed out.

Dinah frowned, "They could always just get everything."

"Inconvenient at best," Jinx shot back.

Shrugging, Lorraine threw out, "The group in Poland?"

"The police broke them up about a month and a half ago," Cameron threw in. Lorraine cursed. A few other members of the Circus threw out a couple of other names, each of them being shot down immediately.

Artemis stuttered out, "How – how do you know all of these groups?"

"Other than the tribe, they're all big names in the metahuman underground. Are you saying that you didn't recognize  _any_  of those groups?" Cameron asked incredulously.

Aqualad shook his head, "No. The only well-known metahuman group is you. None of us have encountered any of those other groups, nor have we heard word of them from our mentors. Are there really that many metahuman groups out there?"

Snorting, Wally said, "Are you kidding? There are  _hundreds_. This is  _global_  movement. There are tons of groups in every single country, all fighting for the same thing." He paused for a moment before saying, without any malice, "It blows my mind sometimes how little you guys know about the entire metahuman situation."

There was a long pause of silence before Jinx rolled her eyes, "What I'm hearing is that no one has a clue who has the research or the resources to do this."

"I can talk to the meta group I made contact with earlier today? See if they've got anything on this. If everyone's alright with me telling them about Pierce's condition," Wally suggested. They had literally just found a metahuman underground group that specialized in information. It would be a crime to not use them.

"Why wouldn't we be alright with that?" Superboy asked, confused.

"Information is power," Harold answered, "As of right now, we don't know anyone else with this knowledge, so we've got an edge when dealing with other groups."

"He's  _your_  prisoner now," Robin pointed out. Wally shrugged and agreed. He'd deal with that later. What did he even have to do later? He was pretty sure there had been a list of things to do at that point.

Shaking his head, Wally said, "Well, not that we've got  _that_  settled, I'm going to go grab some stuff to make that room more comfortable for Pierce and then I'll eat my own supper. After that, I'll debrief my people. Sound good to everyone?" He received nothing but nods in response.

Still, he wasn't surprised when Cameron joined him on the way down to the cells. Cameron waited until they were far away from where Superboy would be able to hear them. If they weren't far enough, then… well, they'd just have to deal with that when the time came.

Cameron bumped Wally's shoulder, handing him a sandwich, "So, what's up with this new meta group that you were willing to make an alliance with them? You never did get around to telling us."

"Their leaders are my aunt and uncle," Wally said, not bothering to dance around the issue with Cameron.

Eyebrows raising in surprise, Cameron whistled lowly, "Wow. That's, uh, quite the discovery." There was something a little pained, a little envious in Cameron's voice that felt like a blow to Wally's stomach.

Wally turned his head slightly to look at Cameron dead-on, "Look, I'm sorry Cam."

"About what?" Cameron asked, tilting his head to the side, apparently genuinely confused.

Wally frowned, "About the fact that I get to reunite with my aunt and uncle and the only person you've got left is your trash dad and he's still in prison."

Rolling his eyes, Cameron muttered to himself, "Why am I not surprised that he found a way to make a happy occasion into an excuse to be guilty?" Wally smiled a little at Cameron's exasperation. Cameron continued, louder, "You really, really have nothing to say sorry about. And the rest of them are going to say the same thing. None of us can choose our biological family and most of us can't choose how our trash lives go. It's not your fault that your ran into your aunt and uncle. And from what you've said of those two, I have no doubt that they'd practically adopt all of us if they met us."

"You're right about that," Wally said, shaking his head fondly.

"So," Cameron started, "What's their story? Your take on their organization?"

Wally finished a bite of his sandwich before answering. He gave a detailed overview of what had happened to Barry and Iris, delving into far more detail than he was going to give when it came time to tell the rest of the group. He described the organization as well as he could, giving out all the information he had picked up on the department heads of the organization and the other people that had been in the buildings.

Once Wally had finished, they walked into the cell and gave Pierce the cot, blankets, pillow, and food they'd brought him. He'd seemed shocked and suspicious when Wally told him that he'd be moved the next day or the day after. Wally wasn't surprised that he was so suspicious but didn't have anything he could say to reassure the man, so he just shrugged and left the former Olympic athlete on his own.

Cameron stopped Wally before they moved too far back towards the others. He leaned back against the wall, "So, what do you really think of them? You've given me the details. What are the emotions?"

"Still working on that?" Wally tried. Cameron gave him a flat stare and Wally rolled his eyes, "My main hang up is the fact that they have so many humans. I know that the goal of every metahuman group is to eventually integrate ourselves back into society, but it's really, really easy to let go of that goal. And I don't think I had realized how far out of sight that goal had seemed until I had run face first into an example of the goal becoming reality. I mean,  _humans_ , Cam. There were humans working with metahumans. More humans in a metahuman underground group than metas. It's everything we've ever dreamed of!"

"But it didn't feel like it," Cameron guessed, "It felt scary and unfamiliar and confusing instead of comfortable and wonderful and bright like you'd imagined." Wally nodded miserably, and Cameron let out his own sigh, "I kind of think that happens with any grand dream someone has. I mean, I've told you about how awful Dad was to me. For  _years_ , I sat there and begged and pleaded with any deity I could think of. I begged them to  _get me out of there_. And they did. But they got me out of life with my Dad and straight into life at the camps. For a long time, I couldn't see the point of making wishes, of having hopes and dreams if they'd only get dashed to pieces with the realization that the world  _sucks_  and there's no happy ending."

Wally bumped Cameron's shoulder, "What changed? Getting out?"

Cameron smiled, "Actually, no. It was before that. Let's see. It was probably… two years after we had been put in the camp. Brick had just died, remember?" Wally nodded. Cameron gave a small, sad smile, "He'd been with us since the beginning of our time. He was in the same bus as we were. I'll always remember the way he yelled that we were just children when those douchebags started picking on us. And I knew that he was a criminal. I mean, most of the people in our barracks were criminals because that's who the Collection Agency got on the first sweep. So, I knew that Brick had done a lot of bad things. Drugs, gang violence. He'd gone against the Green Arrow for a long time, actually. But… he knew he was dying, you know? He could tell the whole day that he wasn't going to make it to the next morning. So, for those of us who were in the barracks that night – you were still in one of your longer tests – he told us something that changed the way I thought. He looked at us and said, 'You know what? I'm sick to death of being bitter and angry and confused. I'm happy now. I'm going to die happy. And I'm not even lying to myself. You guys are a better family, a better  _team_  than my own gang was.' And Brick was right. I found you and then we found the rest of the Circus. The camp  _sucked_ , but it gave us the chance to be better people, to find each other, and to save others. It just took us a while to get to this point. We're still working on it, honestly. We had to worry about so much when we finally got out of those camps, but it worked out in the end. Yeah, I had to work my butt off to really end up getting my hopes and dreams of a better world away from my Dad, but I did it. And it's so worth it."

Wally gently let his head thump against the wall, "Someday, we're going to be able to say we got something good without having to preface it with 'I had to work my butt off.'" Cameron snorted, and Wally allowed a small smile, "I just… They were all so  _happy_. Sure, there were things like the fact that Caitlyn and Julian didn't like their alter egos or whatever, but that was just a little thing. Well, it didn't seem like it  _had_  been a little thing, but it seemed more like one of those it-sucked-while-it-happened-but-now-its-over-so-I'm-pretty-good-with-it kind of things. Oh, stop laughing at me. You know what I mean! It's… I know they've had more time to work through their problems, but they kind of seem like an impossible standard, you know? They have everything, and they just work together so seamlessly. It was like they'd forgotten which of them were humans and which were metahumans. It was incredible and terrifying. How do we even get to that point? How do we get to a point where humans don't scare me so much? Where I can feel comfortable letting my team sleep in a building where there are non-metahumans sleeping? How can I possibly get to a time where I can hear the word 'human' and not inwardly flinch?"

Sighing, Cameron leaned his head back against the wall. Then he started to chuckle. Wally turned to him, bemused, "What?"

"We're all sorts of messed up, aren't we?" Cameron asked, no trace of bitterness in his tone.

Raising his eyebrows incredulously, Wally asked, "Isn't that what your whole little speech was about? We might be messed up but we can fix it and get better? Where did that optimism go?"

"I bequeathed it all unto you," Cameron smirked.

Wally rolled his eyes and shoved at Cameron's shoulder, "No matter what, we'll always have each other. Best friends."

"Brothers," Cameron added.

Wally paused for a second, gathering himself. Then he drew Cameron into a tight hug. They stood there together for several seconds, drawing in each other's strength. When they finally separated, Cameron was pouting at Wally, "Hugs are no fair."

"They're… what?" Wally asked.

"No fair!" Cameron repeated, "I get a certain amount of comfort based on the amount of time spent in the hug. You experience time differently, so you get more out of a hug than I do! Not fair!"

"I give better hugs, though, so it balances out," Wally threw back, smirking.

Sending him a smile, Cameron shook his head, "Yeah, you kind of do. C'mon. Let's get back to your team."


	19. Chapter 19

WWWWWW

Wally would willingly admit that he was nervous.

The Justice League was finally going to enter their lives on a more permanent basis. In the days following Pierce's arrest, there had been a flurry of movement and action as the team tried to come together. Most of the Circus's regular activities had been moved to the daytime while most of the Team members were gone to school or wherever they went. Afternoons were spent training or going over information that they had on the Light. Evenings were spent doing various bonding exercises that ranged from implementing the argument system to stereotypical ice breaker activities to movie nights. Nights were when Wally dealt with problems in Holo City and worked to organize the information from the Alliance (Barry's metahuman group name; Wally had finally got around to asking them).

It was busy and insane and moved far faster than even Wally was used to, and he was used to a pretty fast paced life. But, the fast pace and the constant influx of activity and tasks to do meant that the entire team were working well together, better than expected. It was a lot easier to work with someone when you had actual work to do. If they'd spent the week doing nothing but just trying to bond and sitting in the large headquarters twiddling their thumbs, there would have been blood.

As it was, Miss Martian (who had, after about four days, had broken down and said, "Call me M'gann. It's my Martian name so it's not like I'm telling you my civilian name!") had seemed to form a fast friendship with Garfield. Wally figured it had something to do with the two of them being green. Then again, it was kind of rude to assume that all green people just got along. Anyways, Red Arrow and Kelvin had bonded over weaponry and often spent their free time admiring Kelvin's quite impressive array of weapons with Red Arrow preening over his own trick arrow collection.

Dinah seemed to have latched onto Red Arrow as someone to mother incessantly. Maybe it was because he was so determined to be seen as 'macho' that he didn't take care of himself as well as he could or wasn't as polite as he could have been. Maybe Dinah just felt connected to him for some reason. Wally wasn't judging.

He and Aqualad had worked together a lot over the past week, definitely getting closer and really cementing their role as co-leaders. Wally had gotten a lot closer with Artemis as well. After their conversation that day in the training room, she was a lot less hostile. She still made a lot of jokes and harsh comments, but they were all in fun instead of actively malicious as they had been before.

Everything had felt like it was setting into some sort of pattern, a comfortable medium that they were all existing in for the time being. It was working, and they were making serious progress on the whole Light problem. Their combined knowledge was actually astounding. Both of them had been approaching the problem from  _completely_ different angles. Beyond that, there was the fact that the Team got a lot of information from facing the Light head-on and the Circus got a lot of information from their spy within the organization. With the addition of the Alliance's information, they were tackling the problem from every angle. It was everything Wally had hoped for from this temporary truce.

Then the Justice League came in.

Wally knew that they were good and that the League had saved a lot of people and would probably continue to save a lot of people long after Wally was gone. That didn't mean that the thought of them didn't leave a bad taste in Wally's mouth.

The struggles of being hunted down by Batman, of knowing that the leading experts on being heroes had denounced the Circus as terrorists, the conversation Wally had had with them – none of that led towards a particularly favourable opinion of the group. But, Wally knew that the connection between the League and the Team was strong and that if Wally wanted to work with one, then he needed to be able to work with the other one. It was frustrating, but Wally was going to have to deal with it if he wanted things to keep going as smoothly as before.

Luckily, Wally wouldn't have to deal with too many Leaguers. Red Tornado had been around the headquarters for the past week but had been staying quiet and out of the way, so Wally figured that he wouldn't have much problem with the robot. Wonder Woman was a bit more frustrating, but she could definitely teach them a lot during their time here and Wally figured that if he could appeal to the goodness in someone's heart, it would be easiest to do with Wonder Woman. She seemed like someone who would have a strong moral compass. Plus, she'd be gone most of the time anyways, only there for training.

Batman was annoying and infuriating but after this day, he'd only be around for mission send-offs.

It was Green Lantern that Wally was most concerned about. He hadn't heard anything negative about the Green Lantern and the man was more likely to be more open to the metahumans since he regularly dealt with different species, but he was an unknown. Wally didn't know anything about Green Lantern and that made him dangerous. And Green Lantern was the one who was going to be staying in the base with them as long as he was on-world at the moment. Which was, apparently, not very often. But still. It was daunting.

Wally wasn't going to let them see that, though. Wally was going to make the Justice League see him as an equal if it was the last thing he did. He needed to show them that he wasn't scared and that he could handle this arrangement. If they thought that they could intimidate him and push him around, then there was no chance of achieving anything through this relationship.

So, Wally was going to stand tall and he was going to face them head-on, no matter how scared or apprehensive or nervous he was. He was going to show them that he could take this.

That was why he was standing at the front of his team, making sure that they were all partially behind him when the members of the League filed into the building.

Wally was 90% sure that Batman noticed his not-so-subtle placement, but he didn't say anything, instead turning his apparently perpetual scowl onto the room at large rather than just Wally. There was a long, dramatic pause where each group stared at each other and a suspenseful air hung in the room.

It was weird.

Were meetings between mentors and mentees always this tense and stressful? This dramatic? Wally would never understand heroes. They had the most ridiculous flair for dramatics, but then they also insist that they're undercover and more sophisticated. Like, what? Wally studiously ignored the voice in the back of his head (that had sounded like Cameron for the past six or so years) that told him that he was just as dramatic and flamboyant with his efforts to rescue people.

It was Wonder Woman who spoke first, "Throughout this past week, we have been getting reports on your progress." Read: they've been spying on the teenagers through whatever creepy bat-inspired spying methods Batman had been using. Wonder Woman continued, oblivious of the scowl Wally was throwing her way, "We are pleased with the alliance you have all created and the progress you've made against the Light. I hope that I will be able to aid this growth with the training regimens I have created based on the progress reports I've been given." She nodded to them, face still set and serious.

Green Lantern spoke next, "Yeah, what she said." Wonder Woman glared at her and Green Lantern smirked back, unrepentant. Kelvin was laughing softly behind him. Green Lantern went to speak again, but someone poked him in the back instead. Turning his head slightly, Wally saw Harold's pale face.

Sliding his eyes over to the Justice League, Wally angled his body slightly towards Harold, tilting his head to the side curiously. Harold grabbed Wally's palm and spelled out quickly  _I-K-N-O-W-H-I-M_.

Raising his eyebrows, Wally grabbed Harold's palm, writing  _G-L-?_. Harold nodded. Wally wanted to bash his head into something. Of course Harold knew the Green Lantern. Of course. Because if he didn't, then Wally's life might have actually been somewhat approaching easier.

Resisting the urge to sigh, Wally nodded to him and wrote back quickly  _T-A-L-K-L-A-T-E-R_. Harold nodded back, relieved. Wally still wanted to bash his head into the wall.

He tuned back into the conversation as Green Lantern was saying, "I'll try to stay out of your way as much as possible. I'm here as extra protection due to the decreased security of this place." He gave them an easy smile, but that didn't stop Jinx from snorting in the background.

Scowling deeper, Batman growled, "Is there a problem with that?"

Jinx scowled right back, "I just think it's cute that you're trying to cover up the real reason he's here: you don't trust us to be around your precious little sidekicks."

"We're not sidekicks," Red Arrow mumbled, but he was apparently not suicidal enough to say it loudly in front of The Batman.

Instead of answering Jinx's accusations, Batman swirled around with a truly impressive cape movement and said, "I will contact you for your next mission." And then he was gone, Wonder Woman following slightly at his heels. Wally wanted to roll his eyes.

At the front of the room, Green Lantern actually did seem to be rolling his eyes, sighing dramatically, "Honestly, I don't know how you work with him on a regular basis, Robin. I'd kill him before a week was over. He's so  _dramatic_ , all the time. And the scowls are annoying too. Ugh."

Robin cackled, "You get used to it. Besides, he likes me better than he likes you."

Green Lantern muttered under his breath, "He liked  _everyone_  better than he liked me." Then he raised his voice, turning towards the Circus, "Alright, I don't know any of your names. Want to catch me up?"

Harold tugged quickly on the back of Wally's suit, pulling slightly towards the door. Turning his head slightly, Wally realized that Harold was genuinely panicked at having any sort of interaction with Green Lantern, even just introducing himself. Inwardly sighing, Wally turned back to Green Lantern, "Icicle is going to take care of introductions. I've got to talk to this one about something. I'll be back in a flash." Wally's team groaned at the pun as Wally purposefully put his back between Green Lantern and Harold, ushering Harold towards the bedrooms.

The two of them walked silently until they reached Harold's room, waiting for a second as Harold entered in his code. When they got into the room, Harold practically fell on the bed, throwing his face in his hands and groaning, "Why is this my life?"

"Who is he?" Wally asked carefully, closing the door behind him and settling down next to Harold. He felt like he should reach out and rub Harold's back comfortingly, but the thought of doing that kind of freaked Wally out, so he just sat down next to the younger metahuman, voice soft and concerned.

"You know how we all kind of talked about our families that one day? And I told you guys that I had a cousin who had the same name as me – Harold Jordan, - except he went by Hal instead of Harold?" Harold asked. Wally nodded, having a feeling as to where this was going. Harold finished miserably, "Well, you just met him."

Letting out a rough breath, Wally ran a hand through his hair, "Are you absolutely certain?"

"Definitely," Harold answered without a second of hesitation, "Hal is my favourite cousin. He was always so passionate about stuff and he was really smart even if he tried not to show it. But the stuff he can do as a pilot is  _amazing_. He was, I think, dishonourably discharged from the military, but he still flies for… Ferris Air? At least, that's what he was doing last I saw him. But it's been over five years since I've seen him. Once my parents disappeared, I went out on my own search for them. I dropped everything to do it, especially once my powers came in. Then, by the end of that year, I'd been caught by the Collection Agency and I obviously haven't seen him during that time."

"Okay," Wally said slowly, "What do you want to do about it?"

Harold gave him a startled look, "I don't know! What am I supposed to do about it? It's not like I can waltz up to him and go, hey, yo, I'm your cousin! Weird how we both joined groups that typically face against each other and are now teaming up for a brief period of time with a strong chance that we're going to end up hating each other at the end of this. How have you been doing these past five years? I've been doing horribly, thank you."

Sternly, Wally corrected, "We're not going to hate each other at the end of this. Part of this alliance is to change the way we're hunted down. We might not be able to get the heroes to do any more than that, but at the very least we can get them to stop hunting us down and maybe start to work with us. You don't have to worry about that."

"He's a  _hero_ , Wally!" Harold bemoaned, burying his face in his hands, "He's a hero and all of the heroes think that we're terrorists and horrible people! How can I look him in the eye when he knows that I'm a killer?"

"We never killed an innocent. We only killed when we had to. You  _know_  that," Wally reminded him.

Sighing, Harold responded, " _I_  know that, but does he? Will he believe me? The Justice League doesn't believe in killing people and we've killed people and I just… I don't want him to hate me."

"You said he was in the military, right?" Wally asked suddenly. Harold nodded back to him, confused, and Wally sent him a small, encouraging smile, "If he was in the military, then he has to understand that sometimes death is a necessary evil when it comes to saving people or protecting people. It's not something that we enjoy, or what we want to do, but it's a sacrifice we make only when we have to in order to keep ourselves and the other metas safe. He'll understand that."

Harold's hands tightened into fists, "That still doesn't change the fact that I'm a metahuman. Heroes hate metahumans."

"They don't hate us. They think we're dangerous and they think that we can't be trained to be not dangerous. If anything, they're afraid of us," Wally answered instantly.

Harold smiled hesitantly, "Hal's not afraid of anything."

"See? Then he's not afraid of you and he doesn't hate you. He's not going to be bothered with the killing and he isn't going to hate us after this whole mess with the Light is over and done with. Okay? So, you're good," Wally answered easily.

Taking in a careful, slow breath, Harold rubbed his hands over his face brusquely, "It's just… there's always this hope that all of this will be over some day and I'll be able to go back to my family. I'll find my parents and we'll meet up with my cousins and everything will be amazing, and we'll have this great family dinner and I'll introduce them to you guys. There was never,  _never_ a moment where I thought that we were going to end up meeting  _before_  this was all over. And now that he's here, it's just… it's all wrong and all confusing and I don't know what to think. It wasn't supposed to mix like that."

Shaking his head wryly, Wally threw back, "Very little in our life works out the way we expect it to, family least of all. We made our own family out of that camp which was the last thing any of us expected from camp. I met up with my aunt and uncle after forever. I bet you he'll be momentarily freaked out, but then he'll be fine with it. I don't even know him, but I bet that's how he'll react."

"You really think so?" Harold asked quietly, voice small. It was moments like this where Wally hated his role of leader the most. He hated that they sat there and looked at him like he had all the answers when he was lucky if he had one. He was just as much of a mess as the rest of them and had little to no clue as to what was going on most of the time. How was he supposed to answer that?

Wally settled with honesty, "I really  _hope_  so."

Swallowing harshly, Harold nodded, "Yeah, me too. Although, I've probably ruined it all by this point, running off like that. I must have looked so lame."

"He has no clue why you left the room and he'll understand when you tell him. If, uh, if you're planning on telling him," Wally backtracked quickly, grimacing.

"Be really honest, do you think I should?" Harold asked, giving Wally that serious look he hated again. Wally swallowed, trying to ignore the dull panic that flared at the thought that this kid's life was in his hands.

He shook of the melancholy, answering firmly, "Yes. It's amazing to be reconnected to my Aunt and Uncle again."

"Okay," Harold said, nodding, "Okay, yeah. I'll do it. I'm going to tell him."

"When are you going to do it?" Wally pressed when Harold fell silent.

"Now?" Harold half-suggested, half-answered, "I think if I try to do it at any other time, I won't end up going through with it. I'll talk myself out of it and just make myself miserable. I'll do it now."

"Okay," Wally half-smiled, "Let me ask Cam if they're done with introductions or whatever up there and we'll see if we can get Green Lantern to come back here? Cameron can lead him here and we'll talk to him about this. Sound good?"

Harold paused for a minute, steeling himself, before nodding. Wally ruffled his hair, ignoring the sudden static racing up his arm and the squawk of indignation from the younger boy. He put a finger to his eat and activated the comm device, "Hey, Icicle, you there?"

" _Yeah, what's up?_ " Cameron answered instantly.

"Introductions done?" Wally asked.

Cameron's voice was curious, not accusing, when he responded, " _As much as they can be with the Circus's leader MIA. You and Maser okay?_ "

"Yeah, we're good. Is there a chance you can get Green Lantern to come out down to Maser's room? The two of us have to talk to him about something," Wally said.

He could hear the raised eyebrow in Cameron's response, half a minute later, " _No problem. I'm leading him down to you now. What's going on?_ "

"Maser will let you know if he feels like it. I'm not going to say it over the comms where anyone could hear," Wally answered. He mainly meant that he didn't want Superboy to overhear them about it, but he also meant his own team. The Circus members understood that telling Wally something was basically the exact same as telling Cameron something or vice versa because the two of them didn't keep secrets from each other, but beyond that, secret was secret. If any of the other Circus members decided to tune in on the comms frequency, then they'd hear Harold's problem and Wally wasn't comfortable sharing his teammates' problems without their express permission and Harold hadn't said anything about that yet. He took his finger away from the comms, turning to Harold, "They're on their way. You want me to send Cameron away once Green Lantern gets here?"

Expression tense and miserable, Harold nodded. His hands were clenched tightly in his lap. For a brief second, Wally put a hand on Harold's shoulder, "I'll be here the whole time."

"Thanks," Harold said. He opened his mouth to say more, but then there was a knock on the door. Wally turned to Harold and tilted his head to the side. Harold nodded.

Quickly, Wally zipped over to the door and pulled it open. Cameron sent him a quick succession of symbols alright – stay – go – is it safe. Wally answered back quickly fine – go – safe as can be. Cameron nodded, saying goodbye to Green Lantern before walking off.

Confusedly, Green Lantern glanced behind him at Cameron's retreating form. Wally gestured him slightly into the room, "Could you come in here for a second? We just wanted to talk to you about something. I'm Supersonic, by the way. This is Maser. He has an… issue he'd like to address with you."

Trying to pull off a charming grin, Green Lantern threw his hands in the air, "Whoa, I've only been here for, like, a half an hour max! There's no way that I've caused a problem already!"

Harold snorted, "The Hal I know would  _so_  be able to cause a problem within a half an hour of being in a place."

Green Lantern went very still. He choked out, "What did you call me?"

Harold tensed his shoulders and carefully removed his mask. He set it down on the bed next to him, looking up shyly through his lashes, "Hal Jordan. You can't seriously think I forgot it when we share the same name."

Green Lantern's entire expression slackened with shock, face paling as he glanced between the two metas in the room. Eventually, he hissed out, " _Harold?_ "

Harold nodded, shoulders curling further in on himself. Wally zipped over to him, settling down on the bed next to him and wrapping a loose arm around Harold's shoulders. He wasn't exactly comfortable in this kind of position, but Harold was obviously freaking out and he needed someone to keep him grounded. Wally ignored the way Green Lantern flinched at Wally's blatant use of powers.

After a second, Green Lantern practically fell into the only seat in the room – a small desk chair. He rubbed a hand over his face and cursed emphatically. Harold flinched at the sound. Seemingly just then noticing the state Harold was in, Green Lantern shook his head, reaching a hand out to do…  _something_  before letting it fall back to his side again, "I'm just kind of in shock, you know? You were labelled as a  _runaway_ ,Harold. And your parents had gone missing just a week or two before you split. People weren't sure if someone had gone after your parents  _and_  you or if you'd just been so determined that you didn't want to go into child services that you ran for it. We had no idea if you were dead or alive. You were… you were in the camps this  _whole time_?"

Harold was shaking his head no before Green Lantern – Hal – was even done speaking, "No, I wasn't… I – I was looking for my parents. I left to go look for them that week because my powers had just set in and I felt like I could take care of myself. And the police weren't looking into my parents' disappearances either. I looked for almost a year before the Collection Agency got me. I was the in the camps for three years. Then I got out a year ago to help Supersonic with the Circus."

Hal let out a shuddering breath, scrubbing his hands over his face again, letting out a much softer curse. He shook his head, rolling his shoulders back and sitting straight in his chair. Wally narrowed his eyes at the hero. Hal caught Wally's gaze, the whites of his mask widening in surprise for a second before carefully, hesitantly, Hal pulled one of his hands into a fist, a green ring on it glowing for a second before his entire suit melted away, turning into a normal civilian outfit with a worn aviator jacket.

Taking a deep breath, Hal said, "Look, I reacted to that badly. I'm sorry. You just kinda freaked me out. That was  _not_  how I was expecting my day to go. Will you take a hug as an apology?"

Harold laughed wetly, "You always claimed that you were a manly man, but you always solved all of our fights with a hug."

"What can I say?" Hal shrugged, "Hugs solve everything between family." Wally thought back to his own family and tried to remember the last time his mother or father hugged him. He came up blank. There was a pause before Hal spread his arms, "So? Hug? Yes or no?"

In response, Harold threw himself at his older cousin, almost sending the two flying over the edge of the chair. Hal hugged Harold without abandon, pulling him close and squeezing his eyes shut, chin rested on the crown of Harold's head. Harold wasn't much better, fists bunched in Hal's jacket, little aborted sobs showing that he was trying his best to not cry. Wally tried not to feel too uncomfortable from his spot on the bed.

After a long,  _long_  healing moment, the two cousins separated. They gave each other blinding smiles and Wally couldn't help giving a small smile of his own. Hal glanced at him in surprise, "Huh. From what I heard, it didn't seem like you knew how to smile." Wally's smile self-consciously dipped back into a careful neutral. Hal's shoulders dropped a little bit.

Harold was rolling his eyes, "I'm pretty sure the three times he's smiled in the time I've been talking to him is more than he's smiled in the past month."

"False," Wally immediately protested, scowling, "I smile more than three times a month!"

" _Now_ , maybe," Harold threw back. Wally opened his mouth to argue but found that he couldn't deny the statement. Harold stuck his tongue out victoriously.

Wally rolled his eyes, "Whatever. So, do you guys want me to go while you catch up? Or stay while you catch up? Or will there be no catching up?"

Harold shifted slightly, and Hal tilted his head to indicate that the decision was up to Harold. Frowning, Harold shrugged a little bit, voice soft and hesitant, "Um, could you stay while we catch up? I'm sorry, Hal. I just… I'm a little… I was surprised at seeing you, too, and I obviously don't know you as well as I once did, since you're a hero now. I just…" He trailed off.

Hal was already shaking his head, "It's no problem, really! I get it. You guys have obviously gone through some stuff together and you obviously respect Supersonic as a leader. I get it. You don't have to apologize." No matter what he said, though, Wally could see the tense lines in his shoulders and the sad tilt to his lips. Hal was upset that Harold didn't think that he could be in a room alone with Hal. Well, Hal was just going to have to get used to that.

Smiling shakily, Harold went to go sit back on the bed, "So, I have to know. Were you a Green Lantern already by the time I was labelled as, um, a runaway?"

Hal winced a little before admitting, "Yeah, I was. I've been a Green Lantern for a long time. I like it though. I was a little freaked out a first. It's quite the change to go from being a pilot at Ferris Air to being a Green Lantern. And I had to start taking orders again. The Green Lantern Corps is this weird hybrid between a military and a police force? I mean, on a lot of planets, those two things are one and the same anyways, but it was kind of new for me. And the Guardians – my bosses – have weird rules and get huffy about the stupidest things."

"You think any boss has weird rules and gets huffy about the stupidest things," Harold reminded him.

Hal laughed, "Okay, that might be true. I didn't punch this one in the-,"

Wally, who had been looking at Harold, glanced towards Hal when he went silent halfway through a sentence. But Hal wasn't there.

Standing up quickly, Wally asked, "Where'd he go?"

Harold was staring with his mouth wide open, "I… I don't know! He was right there and then he just disappeared! Bam! Gone!"

A crackle in his ear interrupted Wally before he could say anything, " _Supersonic! Black Canary, Ballistic, and Red Arrow just disappeared!_ "

Wally swore, running an aggravated hand through his hair, "Green Lantern just disappeared too!"

He heard Cameron swearing through the comms. Wally picked Harold up and ran them both to where the rest of the team was gathered, various expressions of shock decorating their features. Wally told them quickly, "I'm going to go take a lap or two around the country. See if anyone else is disappearing."

He flung himself out the door before anyone could respond.

The world was in  _chaos_. Children were screaming and crying. There were cars crashing everywhere and out of control fires in other places. Holo City was almost completely deserted, maybe a hundred people there.

But Wally saw what was happening. He just wished it wasn't.

As quickly as he could, Wally made it back to the base in Louisiana. Aqualad was speaking before Wally had even come to a stop, "Is this occurring in other parts of America as well?"

Wally nodded despondently, "It's happening in the entire  _world_. I made at least four laps around the world. All I saw were kids. Somehow, every single adult in the world has disappeared."


	20. Chapter 20

WWWWWW

Wally ran a hand through his hair, breathing hard. The world had gone  _insane_. When he'd been a kid, Wally had snuck sci-fi books and fantasy books into his reading stack at the library, nestling them deep into the textbooks when his father or mother would walk by. He'd read the books that described an apocalypse of sorts where the adults had all disappeared. It was a semi-common book plot and one that had  _fascinated_ Wally.

So, he thought he'd been prepared for what would happen. Kitchen fires would start from the oven being left on, cars would crash from the drivers disappearing, juvies would empty as people made their escape. There was an endless list of bad things that would happen if the adults all disappeared.

That knowledge did  _nothing_  to prepare him for the reality. He'd run most members of the Team and Circus across the world. Robin had contacted other teenaged heroes and antiheroes and villains and influential teenagers and had them leading rescue missions in whatever city or town they were in. Wally had sent the rest of the team to the places that Robin's contacts couldn't help. Wally himself had been sent  _everywhere else_.

His priority, however, had been the camps. That was another thing that the books hadn't prepared him for. He'd mentally acknowledged that juvies were going to have mass breakouts. It hadn't even  _occurred_ to him that the kids might try to leave the camps with the adults gone. It was… there was going to be some major backlash for this.  _Major_  backlash. It was going to be a complete mess. But the kids were getting out. The kids were  _getting out_. Not all of them, of course.

As fast as Wally was, there were people he couldn't save. Some of the kids were in the middle of experiments, in a situation where they really, really needed someone to be watching the machines. Some of the kids had been held up doing painting or something else in the working portion of the camps and had fallen, their support gone. Beyond that, there were some metahuman children who refused to leave. Some had been so fully convinced that they were monsters that they  _wanted_  what happened to them in the camp, were determined that they deserved it. Some were sure that they'd be caught and punished, no matter what Wally assured them. And Wally only had so much time with the rest of the children in the world in danger. The meta kids who didn't want to go sometimes hid from him, sometimes attacked him to avoid being brought out. It horrified Wally, but he understood a little bit of where they were coming from. He just wished everything was different. He had to leave some of the kids behind to run the majority to Holo City. Once there, he instructed the hundred or so kids that had already been there to watch after the new kids, teaching them the ropes and making sure that they were as safe as they could be. Wally would promise to come back at some point and then run off to go save another group of kids.

He'd run back to the Louisiana headquarters when a summons had come in, Robin sure that they had some sort of plan. Wally hadn't been entirely reassured by that, but he'd picked up his people, bringing them back to the headquarters anyways.

Jinx and Zatanna were standing in front of a globe, eyes shut. A pale pink light lit Jinx's hands and glowed out from beneath her eyes. Zatanna was chanting some sort of gibberish that made Wally's nose crinkle. He turned to Robin instead, "What are they up to?"

"They're working on a tracking spell right now. So far, so good. Apparently the two of them have been exchanging magic knowledge together? And Zatanna knew the spell and was certain that Jinx could give her the power? I'm not entirely sure how it all went down. But they're currently in the process of locating the high source of power that would have been needed to pull off magic strong enough to make  _every single adult_  disappear from the world. How did things go with you?"

"They went," Wally shrugged, sighing a little bit, "There were… there were a lot more dead kids than I ever wanted to see, but… Yeah, there's no but. There were a lot more dead kids than I wanted to see." He took a shuddering breath, rubbing over his face, "But I got a lot to safety, so that's good."

Rocket's voice was a soft spot between worry and frustration, "By 'got to safety,' do you mean broken out of camps?"

The Team members' heads whipped up, shooting over to look at Wally, startled eyes telling him that they hadn't even thought of that. Wally scowled fiercely, "It means I got them to safety. A lot of kids were already running away from the camps, some as far as ten or so miles away. Some kids had died in the camps because they'd been in… bad spots. Some kids refused to leave the camps. I got the ones who'd run and brought them to Holo City. I grabbed some others from the camps. And then I rescued some other kids in regular cities and stuff. They weren't particularly thrilled with being rescued by a metahuman, but whatever."

Cameron grimaced, "There's going to be a serious problem when we get the adults back. The uproar that's going to come from most of the kids in camps disappearing is going to be a nightmare. Also, dealing with all the kids in our city is going to be a mess. Our city's not that big."

Wally frowned, scrubbing a hand over his face, "Especially if you consider the fact that I grabbed some from other countries as well."

"Seriously?" Cameron groaned. Wally shrugged unrepentantly.

Aqualad shook his head, pulling the conversation back on track, "We can worry about that later. As for now, we need to know what we will face when Zatanna and Jinx locate the power source."

M'gann threw her arm in the air suddenly, sending Superboy, who was standing next to her, into a sharp duck out of habit. Lips twitching slightly, Aqualad nodded towards the Martian, "Yes, M'gann?"

Her eyes were bright when she said, "I think the adults are still here." The group stared at her, eyebrows drawing together in confusion. M'gann shook her head, holding her hands out beseechingly, "No, see, I was talking to an adult just a moment ago. He was a nice man who was kind of faded out. I was shocked when I saw him because he  _was_  partially translucent,  _and_  he was an adult. I asked him what had happened to him and he said that he could see both worlds."

"What do you mean by both worlds?" Artemis interrupted sharply.

"The earth split into  _two worlds_! One world for children and one world for adults!" M'gann explained, excited and bright-eyed.

Harold blinked, "Why would this man be able to see both? Why would he be  _here_?"

"I asked him that, too," M'gann responded, "He said that it's probably because he has this disease called… um… leukodys… um…"

"Leukodystrophy! Of course!" Robin shouted, smacking his forehead.

Artemis crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, "Want to explain that to those of us who weren't trained by Batman to know all the most random and weirdly useful information?" Cameron snorted.

Robin rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Oh, yeah. Sorry. Leukodystrophy is a certain type of disease, but there's a specific version of it colloquially called Benjamin Button disease that, basically, de-ages the mind of the person with the disease. So, a middle-aged man can have the mind of a ten-year-old child."

M'gann nodded in agreeance, "Yes, that is precisely what the man said. I think that the spell was confused as to whether he was an adult or a child, so he was stuck somewhere in the middle between the worlds, able to see both."

Perking up, Rocket asked, "Is there a chance we can contact the Justice League through this guy? We can get the bad guys from all sides this way!"

Nodding seriously, Aqualad said, "We can try."

BBBBBB

At first, Bruce didn't know that anything had gone wrong. He and Diana were in deep discussion about the situation they had just left behind.

"I don't know how to feel about Supersonic," Bruce admitted reluctantly, Clark wandering over to join their conversation.

Diana frowned, "He is rather confrontational for someone who wishes to make a substantial alliance. He is also… flightier than I would have wanted for a leader. He spends an overly large portion of his time off doing other things for his own organization rather than working to strengthen the relationship between the two teams."

Bruce frowned, "Supersonic is also very… passionate about his team. I don't think there's anything he wouldn't do to save them. He has a unique way of thinking."

"You like him," Clark accused, leaning back up against the wall. Bruce wondered if he knew how similar he looked to his clone. He didn't think that Clark would appreciate him pointing it out.

Shrugging, Bruce answered, "I am not entirely opposed to him. I think he is an… adequate leader and I think he's working another angle to help all of us."

"What do you mean?" Diana asked sharply.

"I mean that Supersonic is trying to show us why it is a good idea to work with metahumans rather than push them out of sight, out of mind," Bruce answered, eyes dark beneath the white eyes of his mask.

Narrowing his eyes, Clark leaned forward, "And you think that's a good thing."

"I'm just saying that there's something going on here that we don't know about. And I don't like not knowing things. I never looked into the metahuman camps because they were good things meant for a good cause and there were no outright complaints beyond a few underground, mostly silent metahuman groups. Now? I think I might need to take a look," Bruce responded.

Diana opened her mouth to respond when a voice interrupted her, coming through their comms, " _Hey, guys. I need you back at the new Team headquarters_ now _. Something's happened,_ "

Diana groaned, "He has been there for less than an  _hour_. How has something gone wrong already?" Clark shrugged and the three of them moved towards the zeta beams.

When they arrived, Green Lantern, Black Canary, Red Arrow, and Ballistic were pacing the living room, varying expressions of shock and confusion decorating their faces. Bruce growled out, "What happened?"

"The kids have disappeared," Hal answered immediately, earnestly. His fists were clenched, and his shoulders were up, a position he usually only fell into when someone he cared deeply about was in trouble. Bruce didn't think that Hal was close enough with any of the Team members to be having this kind of reaction. Hal was close to Red Arrow as a by-product of his friendship with Green Arrow, but Red Arrow was standing right there. As far as Bruce knew, Hal and Artemis barely knew each other.

Then the words Hal said caught up to Bruce and his voice dropped even deeper, a dark, dangerous sound, "They  _what_?"

"They've disappeared," Black Canary answered, stepping forward, "We don't know where they've gone or what happened, but – as far as we can tell – every child on this team has disappeared into thin air. While we were having conversation with them. They did not fade out of existence and there was no bright light. They simply were there one second and gone the next. A quick scan of local news stations has revealed that the same thing appears to be happening worldwide." She gave him a look that dared him to make a comment. Her thick muscles bunched under her skin.

Diana shook her head, "That shouldn't be possible! What could have happened?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out," Bruce scowled before instructing, "Wonder Woman, find Zatara and see if he can sense anything out of the ordinary. Superman, gather the Justice League and send out a message to the general populace, explaining that we have the situation under control."

Ballistic crossed his massive arms over his chest, towering over everyone in the room, "But you don't have it under control. You have no idea what's going on."

"Neither do you," Hal reminded, raising his eyebrows.

Ballistic frowned, shrugging his shoulder, "I just don't think that you should be lying to all the people out there."

"Even if they don't have it figured out now doesn't mean that they won't have it figured out in the end. This gets rid of a useless panic," Black Canary responded, flipping a portion of her hair behind her back. It seemed to be a nervous tick, her hands running through the golden locks incessantly.

Rolling his eyes, Ballistic grumbled to himself, "Whatever." The two glared at each other.

In the course of the argument, Diana and Clark had gone off to do the tasks assigned to them, leaving Bruce in the room with Hal, Black Canary, and Ballistic.

Black Canary abruptly resumed her pacing, mouth twisted downwards in frustration, a muscle in her jaw twitching. She muttered, mostly to herself, "If whoever did this harms  _one hair_  on the heads of any of those kids, I'm going to kill them."

Going to lean back against the wall, shoulders sagging, Ballistic threw back weakly, "Hopefully wherever they are, they're all together. This lot will take care of the rest of the kids. You know that."

The two were prevented from continuing their conversation by the sound of Wonder Woman rushing into the room, Zatara hot on her heels. Zatara was breathing hard, hands on his knees as he rushed to say, "There was an enormous spike of magical energy. I believe I know a spell to locate where the spike of magic came from."

"Do it," Bruce commanded, pressing a button that would allow for a holographic globe to appear in the air in front of them. He'd seen Zatara perform this spell before.

Clark returned from his own duties, walking slowly into the room with a dark frown on his face. The room was silent save for the sounds of Zatara's spell.

That is, it was silent until a phone started ringing. Bruce narrowly avoided jumping, heart still beating faster than he would have liked. Diana hissed, "Where is that coming from?"

Roy nodded towards the couch, pushing himself off the wall, "That's Robin's phone. I think he left it in the couch."

"You don't think it could be some kind of message?" Hal asked eagerly, leaning towards the couch area as Bruce made his way over to it, grabbing the phone and flipping it open.

He put it to his ear and growled, "What?"

Something on the other side of the phone made a delighted sound, " _It worked!_ " Batman opened his mouth to say something else, but the voice on the other end continued talking, " _Hi, so I've been told to tell you that the Team and the Circus members that are kids are okay! They've got me to pass messages. I can't put you on speaker, but I can tell them what you say!_ "

Bruce put his own side on speaker, "Where are they?"

The voice answered, " _They said to tell you that the world has been split into two worlds – an adult one and a kid one. I exist in both! That's why I can talk to them and to you! But yeah, two worlds. They're pretty sure they've located the, um, spot with a lot of power? No, the source of the high power, yeah. That. So, um, they wanted to know if you guys had a plan. Jinx thinks that you have to do something to the spot in the adult world and the kid world._ "

"Some days, I hate that this is normal," Ballistic muttered to himself.

Bruce spoke into the phone, "Stay on this line. I will contact you again when I have information." He turned it off speaker and let the phone fall onto the couch seat.

"So," Clark asked, "What's the plan?"

WWWWWW

Wally swept back into the headquarters. He'd gotten more of a workout in the time he'd been with the Team than he had in the entire past year combined. He was constantly out of breath from some catastrophe or the other! It was ridiculous!

While they had been waiting for the Justice League and adult Circus members to investigate from their side, Robin had realized that some of the kids had come to the conclusion that this was the perfect time to make-off with whatever goods or goodies they wanted to and there were robberies and raids going on  _world-wide_. Wally and a few others had been deployed to keep the kids under control as well as they could. In other words, it was just about as much of a mess as you could imagine. Except worse. Way worse.

Plus, there had been a moment of panic when Harold and Robin had realized that when the two worlds combined, they were probably going to  _combine_ , which meant that splicing was a real problem. If an adult and a kid were standing in the same place at the same time, there was a good chance that they would reform in that same space which could only be catastrophic. So, they'd gotten the attention of the Leaguers and made sure that they put people in certain spots. Of course, there were only so many heroes or metahumans willing to help and there were a whole lot of people, so there would probably be casualties, but there would be a lot less than there was before.

Wally grabbed a sandwich, intending to wolf it down and then get back out there, but Aqualad held out a hand to get him to stop. Slowing down, Wally nodded over to him, sandwich stuffed into his mouth, "What's up?" Artemis and Cameron gave him identical looks of disgust. Wally ignored them with practiced ease.

Aqualad's lips twitched, but Wally didn't know what he'd been intending to do because the Atlantean started talking immediately, "The Justice League has contacted us with a plan. We are ready to go put the worlds back together."

Wally swallowed his sandwich, "What do we have to do?"

"Stop Klarion the Witch Boy and get his crystal thing at the same time that the Justice League slash adult Circus members defeat the three wizards or whatever and get their crystal thing on their side," Lorraine answered, flaming arms crossed over her chest.

"Awesome," Wally muttered, "Who's Klarion the Witch Boy?"

"We'll give you guys more details on that on the ride there. We've got to get going if we want to at least kind of coordinate this," Robin answered, pulling something up on his wrist computer as he swept away towards the bioship, expression tight. His cape fluttered out dramatically behind him.

M'gann grimaced apologetically at Wally, "Robin just came back from Gotham and found a group of kids had started a fight in the streets and, um, without any adults to pull them off each other or get them to stop, well… one of them found a gun, thought it was fake." She swallowed harshly, and Wally nodded to her, lips turning down into his own grimace. It was bad out there. For all that kids told themselves that they'd be better without adults when they found themselves angry at their parents for this reason or that, adults were just as necessary to society as children were. They needed each other for different reasons. In worlds where they were split, no one benefitted.

Together, they solemnly followed Robin towards the bioship.

The plan was relatively simple: Zatanna and Jinx were their best bet for actually getting the crystal. Teekl the size-changing magical cat familiar would cause some serious problems that would apparently need Superboy, Artemis, Lorraine, and Garfield to address. Wally figured he'd trust the Team's judgement on that. The rest of them would try to go after Klarion, protecting the two magic-users from Klarion's defensive measures.

Wally knew that the actual carrying-out portion of the plan was likely to be a lot harder and more complicated and consist of a lot of ridiculously unnecessary set-backs, but he still had a pretty optimistic outlook on the plan. He believed that they could do it.

He hadn't quite accounted for the strength of Klarion's familiar. Superboy launched immediately down onto the familiar, which puffed up in rage, growing the size of a short bus with twice the anger and a whole lot more claws. Garfield had transformed into one of his cat shapes – a cheetah from what Wally could tell – and was launching himself at Teekl repeatedly, doing his best to make a dent in the familiar's thick fur. He quickly shifted from the cheetah form to something bigger and heftier. A triceratops if Wally had to guess. He wasn't too clear on the names of dinosaurs, but he was pretty sure he knew that one.

Lorraine was raining fire down on the beast, alternating shots with Artemis. They kept attacking Teekl from opposite sides, fire and arrows keeping Teekl's focus distracted. For all the Lorraine and Artemis were still short and tense with each other, they had grown as teammates. They still weren't so good when they were fighting literally side by side, but from opposite sides of an enemy without a chance of their weapons of choice getting a little too close, they worked together almost seamlessly.

Almost.

Wally watched as a badly timed fire shot hit a badly timed arrow, causing a small explosion in the air. It threw everyone  _but_  Teekl back with concussive force, leaving the large cat to barrel towards where the rest of the team had converged on Klarion.

Who was also a lot fiercer than Wally had mentally given him credit for. The witch-boy was  _insane_ , fire and weird glows twisting and altering his features until he looked like something out of the worst kind of nightmare. His powers were unbelievable; completely diverse abilities activated with nothing but anger and shouting, apparently.

In other words, he was very difficult to fight.

Wally found himself back to back with Aqualad, "Is there some sort of secret weapon that we're hiding or something? This isn't going so well!"

"I have brought something, but it is exceedingly dangerous to use," Aqualad responded, electrifying one of his water bearers.

Grimacing, Wally zipped out of the way of a flaming serpent, "Yeah, well, I'm willing to do dangerous right about now. What do we need to do?"

"It requires possession by an incredibly powerful Lord of Order. He is not likely to let someone go once he possesses them. He wishes to find someone with strong magical power to fully possess, but I believe he will take anyone," Aqualad panted, arms straining against another fire beast. Wally punched it, hissing as the heat went straight through his suit.

"Then let me do it! I'm, like, as far from 'magical' as I can get, so I'm sure I'll be able to convince this Lord of Order to wait around for a better host after me!" Wally shouted back, ducking and rolling a little bit away, ducking again as Aqualad jumped, twisting in the air as he cut the head off of… something.

He grimaced for a second before nodding, "It is in my bag, over there!"

Wally saw where he was nodding and made for the bag. He was stopped when Teekl rolled directly in front of him, tail thwacking into Wally's midsection. He flew through the air, slamming into the ground and just wheezing for a second, feeling something shifting strangely each time breath came into his lungs. He felt his ribs slot into a new position, not quite the right spot, but also healed more than they had been. It was going to have to do.

By the time he made it back up, though, someone had beaten him to the bag. He watched in horror as Jinx lifted up the helmet, eyes shining desperately. For one long, frozen moment, Jinx and Wally made eye contact, the helmet poised delicately over Jinx's bubble-gum pink hair. Wally reached a hand out, a ragged, "No!" ripping itself out of his throat as lightning shattered into life around him. He watched the helmet lower onto her head in slow motion. He wasn't going to make it. He wasn't going to be fast enough. There wasn't enough time to build up speed. No, no, no!

The helmet fell onto Jinx's head.


	21. Chapter 21

WWWWWW

The moment the helmet made contact with Jinx's head, she shrieked, grabbing the helmet and tossing it away from her. She panted heavily, eyes wild. From where Wally was standing, he could see the red blisters covering Jinx's hands and the bright red spots where the helmet had come in contact with her ashen skin.

Her scream drew Klarion's attention and he screeched with incoherent rage as his demonic eyes landed on the helmet lying discarded on the grass outside of his circle. Teekl's head whipped up at the sound, freakishly large eyes narrowing in a way that was too human to be comfortable. The beast lashed it's tail out at the people surrounding it, sending Superboy and Lorraine flying. Lorraine collided with a tree, sickening crack echoing even over the sounds of battle. Robin sent her a cursory glance before dodging another flaming summon of Klarion's. Wally wanted to be sick.

Instead, he stood up on unsteady feet, waiting for a moment of dizziness to pass before he lurched forward, determined to make sure that the cat didn't get Jinx  _or_  the helmet. He zipped over to where the girl was still standing, eyes wide and glazed over. Her hands were held out in front of her, shaking so hard it was a wonder they didn't start blurring. Dodging around Teekl was harder than it should have been and his movement around the giant beast made it nearly impossible for Artemis to accurately shoot the thing. Despite a week of them training together, she didn't know how to shoot with a speedster around the area of the target. There was no predicting where he'd be and how fast he'd get there.

That meant that Superboy and Garfield were left trying to fight the thing alone. Garfield was switching through his animal forms lightning fast, blurs of outlines of creatures, each one faster than the last, stronger, larger, smaller, smarter. Teekl was roaring with anger, trying to dance around a creature that couldn't decide how big or fast or strong it was. Superboy was taking advantage of the thing's anger, confusion, and clear goal to wail on the cat whenever it was distracted. So far, the plan seemed to be working. Wally only hoped that it worked long enough for him to get to the helmet and Jinx. All he needed was to get there and then he could get the two out of there, circling back to drop them off before using the helmet himself (although, he was a little wary about the whole getting-really-hot thing; Aqualad hadn't warned him about that bit).

Wally ducked and dodged around another sweeping paw and then,  _finally_ , he was in the home stretch. Jinx was standing there in front of him, hair starting to escape from it's gravity defying hold, stretched and fizzled around her ashen skin. Wally didn't wait to check with her, instead just grabbing her around the waist and plucking the helmet (curiously cool and…  _compelling_  in a way that made Wally slightly uncomfortable) off the ground as he went. He left the battlefield behind in an instant.

He turned around as soon as he could get enough distance to actually make the turn without skidding across the ground for a few hundred feet, heading towards the tree he'd seen Lorraine crash into. Maybe he could get Jinx to snap out of whatever daze she was in and get her to check up on Lorraine while she was at it. The two girls were obviously not able to re-join the fight at this point.

Wally skidded to a stop in front of the tree, setting the helmet down next to him and gently leading Jinx to sit next to Lorraine. He snapped his fingers in front of Jinx's face while also feeling under Lorraine's chin. She had a pulse, thank goodness. Wally felt a coil of tension release even as the battle raged around him. Wally turned back to Jinx, snapping his fingers.

She came to with a start, physically jerking back a little bit with a little stuttered breath. Wally pulled back a little bit so the first thing she saw  _wasn't_  someone looming over her. Wally knew from personal experience (on both ends) that it was not good to loom over a waking camp survivor. Jinx took a few gasped breaths, sucking air noisily in through her open mouth. Wally waved a hand in front of her face and she flinched. Wincing a little, Wally spoke quickly, "Jinx, I need you to look after Firehawk. Neither of you can be in the battle right now, but I need you to keep her safe, okay? Okay? Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

A new voice interrupted before Jinx could respond, "You okay?"

Wally whipped around, leg going out and kicking the helmet behind him, Jinx and Lorraine protectively shadowed behind him, arm out to physically protect them from harm. He relaxed when he saw it was just Zatanna. No wonder she was worried. She'd been working right next to Jinx but hadn't been looking over at the metahuman when Jinx had put on the helmet. Zatanna would have only heard a scream and seen Wally make off with her. Of course, she was concerned.

Standing up, Wally nodded tersely to Zatanna, who crouched down to reach a hand out carefully to Jinx's burned face, "As much as we can be. Jinx is going to look after Firehawk. We have to get back into the battle."

He glanced over towards the battlefield, wincing in sympathy as M'gann got knocked out of the air by one of Teekl's paws only to smash into one of Klarion's fire beasts. He winced again as he remembered that fire was the Martian's greatest weakness. They really needed to get back to the battlefield.

Wally turned around, mouth open to say so, only to snap it closed in shock, eyes wide in horror.

Zatanna was just settling the helmet onto her head when Wally turned around. She had been possessed, had used the dangerous weapon that Aqualad hadn't even mentioned to the rest of the group. No, no,  _no_!

Just like that, everything froze. The only thing in the world was Wally (and presumably, somewhere in France, Barry, blinking in confusion at the sudden momentary feeling of Speed Time, or maybe not even noticing the shift at all, too immersed in his own work), frozen with horror and disappointment. Disappointment in himself. Look at him! Look at the three girls who had placed their loyalty and trust with Wally. Look at how he betrayed them. Lorraine was still unconscious on the ground, flaming hair scattered over the ground, eyes motionless beneath their lids. There was blood scraped off onto the tree she'd hit, gashes along her arms and probably worse ones on her back. Jinx was still slightly shell-shocked, barely comprehending the instructions she'd been given. There were burns framing her face and coating her hands, tears starting to fill into her wide pink eyes, hair in more of a disarray than Wally had ever seen it. Zatanna was partway through her transformation, a golden light shimmering around her as she lifted into the air, suddenly materialized cape frozen as it fluttered through the air behind her.

Wally looked back towards the team. Garfield was halfway through a transformation, an ominously large paw heading straight towards his unprotected back. Superboy was lunging through the air to stop it, arm stretched out, but too far away to really do anything. M'gann was prone on the ground, Artemis standing over her, back bowed almost over as she aimed an arrow straight up at a fire demon lunging for the two of them. Harold and Robin were back to back, batarangs and energy shooting out around them, expressions set and deadly serious. They were surrounded by fire demons. Aqualad had caught sight of Zatanna and his expression was vulnerable, afraid in a way Wally hadn't been able to picture on Aqualad. He was genuinely terrified of what was going to happen.

And behind them all, crystal safely under his protection and mad fire dancing around him in a mockery of beauty, his face twisted into some sort of indescribable horror, was Klarion the Witch Boy.

Wally felt his soul ignite, anger sparking into lightning that curled around his limbs and licked up through his veins. How  _dare_  Klarion hurt what was Wally's own? How dare he hurt one the Speed Force had claimed for itself? He had no clue what ancient powers he was meddling with when he hurt Wally this way.

A voice speaking into the time void sent all of the electricity trailing away like a splash of cold water, "The Witch Boy is mine. Do not interfere."

Floating slightly above Wally, Zatanna had completed the transformation sometime while he'd been looking out at the rest of the team. And whatever ancient spirit Zatanna had been possessed by was somehow able to move this way, to be this completely within Wally's own world, the one he thought was uniquely accessible to speedsters. Wally stammered a little bit, taken aback by the shadow that seemed to be the only thing underneath the thing's helm.

The voice seemed to be rolling his eyes (did he even have eyes? Was he rolling Zatanna's eyes?), "I am Nabu, although in this form, possessing a human this way, I am Doctor Fate, a Lord of Order. My place in this world is to protect it from Lords of Chaos such as the Witch Boy." He paused before seeming to sneer, "Oh, I see. You wished to take on my helmet to save this girl the fate of becoming my vessel. You believe that I would not stay in such a magicless vessel as yourself. You underestimate my desperation to have a vessel to aid me in this war. I would have taken even your inferior form. At least you have a strong connection to the Speed Force. Although, take care that you do not make your connection  _too_  strong. If you were to run too fast…" Doctor Fate trailed off before snapping his attention back on Wally, "The Speed Force does not need to interfere in this battle. Now that I have control, I can easily defeat the Witch Boy."

Wally swallowed, heart thudding painfully in his chest. He closed his eyes and tried to keep his tears in. He was sure they would do nothing to move this pitiless god, "You have to let her go when you defeat Klarion today." He couldn't help the tear the prickled at the corner of his eye.

He knew that Nabu couldn't see it through the goggles, but Doctor Fate seemed to soften slightly regardless, "She is a powerful host, with magic capabilities far beyond what I had expected to form within humans. And she will only get stronger. But," and here he hesitated, "My time with my last host might have… softened me. Although I do not plan on giving up this body, I will… hold onto your words and make sure they get to this girl. Now,  _slow down_."

Closing his eyes tightly for a moment, Wally tried to muster up a glare for Nabu (he didn't quite manage it. Somewhere between the realization that this spirit had been in this helmet for a very, very long time and the idea that Wally found it hard to hold onto his hate for anything, he'd come to the conclusion that he pitied Nabu more than anything else), "Her name is Zatanna. Or, well, that's her superhero name. But, at least, that's something. Her name is not 'my host' or 'this girl' or 'this body.'"

Doctor Fate sighed, "You are testing my patience, boy." Wally stood his ground. Doctor Fate gritted his teeth and muttered testily, "I will hold onto your words and make sure they get to  _Zatanna_. Now  _release us_."

Wally figured that there was no further way to push Doctor Fate, so he mustered the control that would allow him to slow down, putting time back into its normal rhythm. He blew out a breath and the world burst into colourful, horrifying motion around him.

Then the whole battle screeched to a halt as Doctor Fate rose higher into the air and shouted, "Klarion! Your fight is with  _me_!"

Aqualad was sending Wally an expression of horror from over the field. The Team members were making the connection between Doctor Fate's sudden appearance and Zatanna's disappearance. The Circus members were stuck in confusion. Klarion let out an unholy shriek, all attention successfully devoted to Doctor Fate.

Doctor Fate's first move was to utterly destroy the enemy. Klarion, unprepared and at least a little bit tired after so long maintaining the spell, stood no chance against Doctor Fate's immediate assault. Nabu hadn't even tried to get a monologue out. More heroes could learn from him, honestly. At least, in that one department. Maybe they shouldn't learn from the rest of him. With a few shouted spells and bright bursts of a golden symbol against Klarion's forcefield, the shell dropped. Robin took a hesitant step in before whipped out his grappling hook and grabbing the thing, dragging it back to him before Klarion could recover. Aqualad, Harold, and Robin combined their forces to destroy the thing.

It was at about that time that the world exploded into light.

Suddenly, there was an enormous shriek, Black Canary's familiar cry almost comforting despite the volume of it. There were heroes sweeping through the air above them and fallen sorcerers around the circle. Klarion took the moment of distraction to throw himself and his familiar backwards into a portal. Doctor Fate hmphed imperiously.

Garfield switched into his gorilla form, letting out a mighty roar before beating his chest proudly. Some of the other gathered heroes (Wally honestly wasn't sure what some of their names were) added their own whoops to his roar. There was a momentary burst of happiness through the group as they realized that they did it; they brought the worlds together!

Then two shouts shattered the moment. Dinah cried out, "Firehawk!" She dove towards Jinx and Lorraine, sliding to her knees as Kelvin barrelled after her, the rest of the Circus members not far behind. Wally was worried to see that Lorraine still didn't seem to have stirred.

Zatara's cry was just as heart-wrenching, " _What did you do to Zatanna_?"

Doctor Fate gazed down at him, somehow conveying his disregard, "She offered herself to me in order to win the battle. It was an intelligent decision. These children would not have been able to defeat Klarion without my aid."

Zatara stated coldly, "It looks as if even  _with_  your aid, they did not defeat Klarion. Let me daughter go."

Something in Doctor Fate's posture stiffened, his voice taking on the inflection of a sneer, "All the more reason for me to stay in this host." He paused for a moment before making eye contact with Wally. He sighed, "All the more reason for me to stay with  _Zatanna_." Zatara glanced to his side. Wally watched as he eyes narrowed onto Wally's form, insignia-less suit irregular among the battlefield, but still as recognizable, but he didn't say anything.

Voice pleading, Zatara turned back to Doctor Fate, "Take me instead." Wally jolted, eyes widening. Doctor Fate gazed carelessly down at Zatara. Desperation forcing him to take another step forward, Zatara entreated, "My mature is much more mature and strengthened than hers. Zatanna is still just a child. You cannot do much with the magic she currently has. I would be a much stronger host."

"She will one day grow stronger than you could even imagine," Doctor Fate intoned. Wally felt a chill run down his spine. He had never been too fond of things that were fated to happen.

"And by that day, you could already have defeated Klarion if you were to take me on as your host," Zatara argued. The rest of the battlefield was silent, the emotions of the moment forcing everyone into tense silence. Wide eyes were all directed towards the confrontation. Each person was simultaneously begging Nabu to take the deal and not take the deal. If Zatanna were to remain Nabu's host, she would be essentially dead, her control of the body gone. If Zatara were to take on the role of Nabu's host, Zatanna would be devastated and would likely blame herself. There was no way for her to win.

Wally felt the sick feeling of guilt crawl up his throat and rest there, leaving a lump in his throat and tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. This was his fault, all his fault. How could he have  _done_ this? He should have been faster, should have been able to get to the helmet before Jinx even tried to put it on. How stupid had he been? Stupid, stupid, stupid. Not fast enough, not good enough. Wally drowned in the feeling.

After a long, tense pause, a light swirled around Doctor Fate and his feet lowered towards the ground. They touched down just as the helmet raised off of Zatanna's head, floating over to where Zatara was standing.

For just a moment, Zatanna and Zatara stood facing each other, eyes wide and devastated. Zatara swallowed, helmet tucked under his arm. He wrapped his other arm around Zatanna, whispering into her ear, "I love you, Zatanna. I love you so much."

Her voice was ragged with fear and devastation, "Please, father. Please, don't go. I'm so sorry."

"I love you," Zatara whispered one last time before gazing out at the gathered crowd of heroes and metahumans, "Please, take care of her." He whispered one last, "I love you," into his daughter's hair before pulling the helmet over his head.

As the light enveloped the man, Zatanna sobbed, "I love you. I love you, dad. I love you." She continued to sob out the words as she crumpled to the ground, Artemis and M'gann racing to pull her into their arms, holding her tight as she cried.

Doctor Fate flew off without saying another word.

"What are we going to do?" Superboy asked, hovering awkwardly back behind the girls, expression crushed and vaguely puppy-like.

"We will take her back to headquarters. She will move permanently into her quarters there. We will gather her belongings as soon as we can," Aqualad answered, expression soft and… understanding. The Team all looked so heartbroken.

Dinah spoke up, voice grim, "I really don't mean to intrude, but the Circus members need to get back to  _a_  headquarters immediately. Firehawk is really hurt. We need to get her to a medbay as soon as possible."

As one, all of the heroes looked over to where the rest of the metahumans were gathered, shoulders hunched defensively and expressions horribly wary. Wally zipped through the heroes, joining his own people, habitually reaching out and pressed two gloved fingers to Lorraine's neck. She was still breathing. Wally frowned, "Do you know what's wrong?"

Dinah grimaced, hands shaking, "I… I think," she swallowed harshly and trailed off.

Wally turned to Cameron for a translation. Cameron was just as grim when he reported, "We think her neck is broken."

Wally's stomach dropped. His hands started shaking – quickly moving to a stage of vibration – and he gently brushed his fingers over the back of Lorraine's neck. Right as he felt something weird in the shape of the bone, Lorraine twitched in his arms. Wally took a brief second to bury his face in his hands and just  _shake apart_. Then he pulled himself together, turning to face the heroes, "I don't think I can get her to Holo City without damaging her further. Do you… do you have a doctor who would be willing to treat her?" It hurt Wally to ask, terrified him to even think about trusting Lorraine in the hands of a human doctor, but even if he could get a teleporter from the city to get over to him, there was no telling what a teleportation would do to a broken neck. Wally wasn't willing to risk it if he didn't have to. He hoped he wouldn't have to.

Batman answered immediately, "We will call in a doctor to bring to your joint headquarters. Martian Manhunter can bring her onto the bioship using his telepathy so she will not be jostled." Wally nodded to him, grateful and scared all at once. There was nothing else he could do, though.

Beside him, Garfield slipped a hand into his. The whole team knew about his aversion to touch, but Wally was willing to ignore that for the moment, pulling Garfield in close, swinging Harold in on his other side, holding his arms comfortingly around his teammates. Kelvin was gently picking up Jinx bridal style, cradling her despondent form to his massive chest. Dinah had taken hold of Cameron the same way Wally had Gar and Harold. The Team was still wrapped around Zatanna, but they were gazing at the metahumans with open pity and, maybe, a little bit of fear. For Lorraine's safety? Wally wasn't sure. He wasn't up to interpreting facial expressions right now. All his thoughts were on the safety of his team.

He honestly didn't remember much of the ride back to the base. He remembered standing with the doctors as they guided Lorraine to a surgery room, gently closing the door on Wally's distraught features, his distorted reflection staring mournfully back at him in the shiny metal of the door.

He'd gone through the motions of checking each of the other Circus members over, putting salve and bandages over Jinx's wounds. He instructed Dinah to take Jinx to her room, telling them to rest together that night. He told Kelvin to do the same with the boys, but Cameron shook his head, muttering, "Someone's gotta check out the city. I'll go in your place." Wally tried to protest, but Cameron insisted, and Wally saw through the flimsy excuses to the painful desire to be doing  _something_  to take away the cold feeling in his heart. So, he nodded and ran Cameron to the city.

Wally ran back to the base and made sure that Kelvin, Garfield, and Harold were in a room, but found that Harold was out in the waiting room of the medbay. Sighing, Wally closed his eyes and rushed there, slowing to a stop when he saw Harold sitting with his head bowed, hands clasped against his neck. Frowning a little bit, Wally sat down next to Harold, resting a hand on his back gently, "What's up?"

"Why do I feel like every time something good happens to me, it has to be balanced by something awful? I find Hal and now Lorraine is really, really hurt," Harold mumbled. He pulled his knees up and leaned over, putting his head on Wally's lap and melting into the movement. He closed his eyes and swallowed, "I'm just really tired of being afraid of good things."

Wally leaned his head back against the wall, "Someday, we'll make it through this. We'll get the Light and the heroes will finally realize what's going on at the camps. And life will finally turn around for us. Someday, we'll be able to get something good without having to work our butts off for and we'll be able to get something good without being suspicious of it. We just… we just have to work for it."

"You shouldn't have to," Hal's voice came from a connecting room. Wally jumped a little bit, but Harold didn't even move. Wally didn't say anything, so Hal continued, "What happened to you in those camps? Why don't you speak out? You have a lot of people in that city from what I've heard. With that many, you could make a difference, get your voice heard."

Lips twitching down into a frown, Wally sighed, "It's not that simple."

"Why not? We are, shockingly enough, a democracy. If people see what's going on, if it's really as bad as it seems to be, then people are going to do something!" Hal argued.

Harold laughed humourlessly, a cold grating laugh that Wally knew well, "I think you might be getting Earth confused with one of the other planets under your protection. Humans have had, what? Nine years of getting inundated with the idea that we are worthless, horrible monsters will pretty much make sure that they won't be up in arms about us. I mean, the  _entirety_  of humanity would have to face the fact that they let us go through this. Every known country has laws restricting or abolishing the human rights of metahumans. America doesn't even have close to the worst conditions."

"You don't trust humans. You don't trust us to do the right thing," Hal realized.

"Should we, Hal? After what they did to us, to our family, to our  _kind_?" Wally asked, voice low and bone weary.

Hal's face crumpled into a frown and he hesitantly moved closer, sitting on the bench on the other side of Harold, "And what about the Team? Or the Justice League? Surely you've met  _some_  good humans in your travels."

Harold's voice was shy and tired and so, so small when he said, "I… I think you might be."

For most people in most situations, that would be insulting. Not in this situation with these people. The idea that Hal's own cousin was sceptical on the idea of trusting him still had to hurt for Hal, though. The same kind of hurt that Wally had seen flash across his Aunt's face when he'd admitted his own opinion of humans. Wally and all of the metahumans under him  _knew_  that generalizing was bad. Generalizing was what caused all of this in the first place. Humans generalized all metahumans as dangerous and cast out their entire group. Wally  _shouldn't_  generalize humans the same way, but… Unlike the humans who had had nothing done to them by metahumans, metahumans were actually hurt and tortured and put down by humans. It still wasn't a good reason to be distrustful towards all humans, but, well, tell that to Wally's subconscious. Tell that to the subconscious of every Circus member and every member of Holo City.

Carefully, projecting his movements, Hal stood up out of his chair and crouched in front of the two of them. Slowly, oh so cautiously, Hal pulled the two of them into a hug, tightening it once he realized that they weren't going to pull away.

Letting out a shuddering breath, Wally's hands clenched before loosening. Hesitantly, he let himself relax into the hug in a way he wasn't sure he ever had. Hugs had been rare and stiff, formal affairs at home and there certainly weren't any hugs in the camps. Anyone since then had been quickly pushed away or dodged completely. But Wally was so tired of denying himself this, of being  _afraid_  of this. So, Wally melted into the hug from a human who was practically a stranger. He let himself melt into the hug and he just held on tight and let someone else be the adult for once.


End file.
